Maurizio Cattelan's Stolen Golden Toilet 'America' Resurfaces for $10 Million Sotheby's Auction

2 days ago7 min read

Maurizio Cattelan's notorious functional artwork, an 18-karat gold toilet titled 'America,' is heading to auction at Sotheby's New York this November with an opening bid of $10 million. The piece, which famously invited public use during its 2017 installation at the Guggenheim Museum, became the subject of an international mystery after its 2019 theft from Blenheim Palace, where it was ripped from its plumbing in an unsolved overnight raid.Cattelan's work, a potent symbol of excess and inequality, now carries the added intrigue of its criminal history. The upcoming sale poses a compelling question to the art world: will a collector pay a fortune for an object that critiques the very wealth required to own it? The auction promises to be a defining moment, testing the markets for a piece that is as much a conceptual provocation as it is a solid-gold commodity.

#featured

#Maurizio Cattelan

#America

#golden toilet

#Sotheby's

#art auction

#contemporary art

#$10 million

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