The banana that consumed the art world has taken early retirement.

The artist Maurizio Cattelan — whose fruit pinned to the wall with gray duct tape was sold three times at Art Basel Miami, for $120,000 to $150,000 each time — and his gallery Perrotin announced on Sunday, the last day of the fair, that the banana had been removed from its booth because of the Mona Lisa-like attention it was getting.

“This morning, following recommendations, we removed the installation at 9 a.m.,” the gallery’s statement said, adding: “Art Basel collaboratively worked with us to station guards and create uniform lines. However, the installation caused several uncontrollable crowd movements and the placement of the work on our booth compromised the safety of the artwork around us, including that of our neighbors.”

The announcement followed an incident in which a New York City-based performance artist, David Datuna, pulled the banana off the wall and ate it.

Mr. Datuna made light of his action in an Instagram post he titled “Hungry Artist,” writing: “Art performance by me. I love Maurizio Cattelan artwork and I really love this installation. It’s very delicious.”