Peel Slowly and See the Banana Cat

Do you know the true story behind the famous Andy Warhol’s design of the cover of the album “The Velvet Underground & Nico”, one of the most influential albums in rock and pop music and one of the greatest albums of all time. In 1982, English musician Brian Eno suggested that while the album only sold approximately 30,000 copies in its first five years, “everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band”

The cover design featuring a banana by Andy Warhol also became an icon. Early copies of the album invited the owner to “Peel slowly and see”, and peeling back the banana skin revealed a flesh-colored banana underneath. But the fruit inside was the second version of the design suggested by the artist. This is what an album owner originally discovered when he began to peel the banana, it was a kitty:

Andy Warhol, Banana Cat #1

When the excited happy owner of the album peeled it further a gorgeous orange cat showed off from the banana skin:

Andy Warhol, Banana Cat #2

But why, you would ask, did the fluffy kitty disappear and a bald fruit took his place?

Why did the banana peeling end by this?:

Andy Warhol, The Velvet Underground & Nico cover, peeling the banana

Of course, the reason was that the art critics of the time were furious when they noticed that Andy Warhol foresaw the arrival of our disciple Tyger Blake the Cat and featured him appearing from the banana.

“The cat is too decorative and not simplified! His fluff is not acceptable in pop art! Do you want to please crazy cat ladies?

And how are you going to sell it with the cat? Collectors would think it’s just an internet meme and they could download it online for free and print it out by themselves! Please don’t forget that the main purpose of art is money, or we’ll drop a dime on you for not being a serious artist! Create something more satisfying for us!”

Andy Warhol looked at the critics with sad eyes and drew something that these material people deserved: a fleshy bald banana.

And he kept the Banana Cat for himself

Since then diversity has become more respected and now the time is coming to reveal the fluffy truth to the world.