In this paper we deal with the problem of describing the dual space (Bκ1)⁎ of the Bernstein space Bκ1, that is the space of entire functions of exponential type (at most) κ>0 whose restriction to the real line is Lebesgue integrable. We provide several characterizations, showing that such dual space can be described as a quotient of the space of entire functions of exponential type κ whose restriction to the real line are in a suitable BMO-type space, or as the space of symbols b for which the Hankel operator Hb is bounded on the Paley–Wiener space Bκ/22. We also provide a characterization of (Bκ1)⁎ as the BMO space w.r.t. the Clark measures of the inner function ei2κz on the upper half-plane, in analogy with the known description of the dual of backward-shift invariant 1-spaces on the torus. Furthermore, we show that the orthogonal projection Pκ:L2(R)→Bκ2 induces a bounded operator from L∞(R) onto (Bκ1)⁎.Finally, we show that Bκ1 is the dual space of a suitable VMO-type space or as the space of symbols b for which the Hankel operator Hb on the Paley–Wiener space Bκ/22 is compact.