Maurizio Cattelan on his serious art, from the $6m banana to Hitler in Berlin

Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, known for a $6.2m duct-taped banana and a stolen gold toilet, opens his first major German exhibition, "Night," at Berlin's Neue Nationalgalerie, featuring works on power and history. The show includes new commissions like "Purgatory," a scaled Brandenburg Gate, and historic pieces such as "Him," a kneeling Hitler figure, and "La Nona Ora," a meteorite-struck Pope John Paul II, exploring dark historical themes. Cattelan, who won this year's Neue Nationalgalerie prize, says his work is serious despite its humorous surface, and he credits Berlin's raw, evolving character with inspiring his creative comeback after a brief retirement.