A 101-kilogramme solid gold toilet titled America has once again captured the world’s attention after selling for $12.1 million at Sotheby’s. Created by Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan, the piece is both a sculpture and a functioning toilet. It was first unveiled at the Guggenheim Museum in 2016, where visitors were allowed to sit on it - turning the artwork into a cheeky critique of privilege, inequality, and the extravagant culture it mocks. Sotheby’s displayed the toilet again ahead of the auction, although this time it remained strictly off limits.
An artist known for provocation and satire
Cattelan has long made a name for himself for testing the boundaries of contemporary art through humour, outrage, and social commentary. Among his other works are a wax model of Pope John Paul II hit by a meteorite and the viral 2019 work Comedian, featuring a banana duct-taped to a wall. For Cattelan, situating a priceless object in a bathroom underscores the absurdity in the link between wealth, value, and function. He once said that whoever consumes an expensive or a poor meal has the same end, signalling the blunt message behind the sculpture.
A toilet fit for museums, leaders and thieves
America has taken a strange path through high culture and political theatre. Once, the toilet was offered to Donald Trump when he asked the Guggenheim for some artwork to hang in the White House. Another edition of the toilet was famously stolen in 2019 from Blenheim Palace in England and was never recovered. Investigators believed it was melted down for its gold. The latest sale marks the first time the work has been publicly auctioned at this scale and adds a new chapter to its already colourful history.
Why collectors care about a gold toilet
Beyond its shock value, auction experts say the sculpture is an incisive statement on wealth and the commodification of art. Sotheby's described it as a commentary on how art objects gain value through notoriety as much as meaning. The identity of the buyer has not been revealed, but interest in the piece reflects the broader fascination with Cattelan's ability to turn everyday objects into cultural lightning rods. The gold toilet's record price shows that even satire can become a luxury collectible in today's art market.
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