Andy Warhol’s Banana F & S. II 10 created in 1967 features the iconic banana design Warhol originally created for the 1967 debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico. The original album cover included a playful interactive element: a yellow silkscreen banana with a peelable sticker that, when removed, revealed a pink-hued fruit beneath. In Warhol’s Banana F & S. II 10, Warhol revisits this concept, screenprinting the same bright yellow banana onto a sheet of plastic that could also be peeled away—this time revealing a pink fruit underneath, adding a new layer to his original design.

Beyond its place in visual art, the banana image is deeply tied to Warhol’s collaborative and performative work in the 1960s. Around the time of Banana F.S II 10’s conceptual roots, Warhol ventured into multimedia with his touring show The Exploding Plastic Inevitable, which spotlighted The Velvet Underground. In 1965, he became the band’s manager and helped secure a recording contract with Verve Records. Warhol designed the cover for their groundbreaking debut album, immortalizing the banana as one of pop culture’s most distinctive symbols.

Over time, the banana image became inseparable from Warhol’s legacy—bold, enigmatic, and irreverent. While the true inspiration behind the fruit remains unclear, its status in art and music history is unquestionable. Interestingly, the banana’s notoriety even led to legal disputes: The Velvet Underground sued the Andy Warhol Foundation over the image’s copyright, arguing that the band deserved ownership. Though the suit was unsuccessful, it underscores the banana’s cultural weight and its complex origins within Warhol’s prolific career.

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