Cattelan's Stolen Golden Toilet Sells for $12.1 Million in Tepid Auction

2 hours ago7 min read

Maurizio Cattelan’s notorious 18-karat gold toilet, 'America,' sold for $12. 1 million in a Sotheby's auction that fell short of its dramatic potential.The fully functional artwork, once installed in a Guggenheim Museum restroom where it was used by thousands of visitors, represents both a critique of wealth excess and a literal manifestation of it. Its journey to the auction block was shadowed by an unsolved 2019 heist from Blenheim Palace, adding a layer of true-crime intrigue to its provocative history.The sale itself was marked by an awkward silence as the auctioneer struggled to elicit higher bids, a finale that reflects a shifting contemporary art market. The tepid response suggests either waning appetite for Cattelan's brand of institutional critique or the practical burdens of owning a stolen-and-recovered solid gold fixture.The anonymous buyer acquired not just a sculpture, but a piece of art-world folklore—an object that is simultaneously luxury item, philosophical statement, and crime relic. In failing to meet loftier expectations, the sale provided a fittingly ironic conclusion for a work that has always explored the flush and fade of wealth and absurdity.

#Maurizio Cattelan

#America

#golden toilet

#art auction

#Sotheby's

#$12.1 million

#featured

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