A solid gold toilet weighing more than 200 pounds sold for $12.1 million at Sotheby’s in New York on Tuesday, November 18, landing one of the night’s most-watched results during a major modern art auction.
The 18-karat, 101kg work titled America was created by Maurizio Cattelan, the same artist behind the viral banana taped to a wall that sold for $6 million.
Sotheby’s opened bidding at around $10 million before the piece closed at $12.1 million. Cattelan has previously described the functional toilet as a satire of extreme wealth, with Sotheby’s noting its commentary on how art and commodity value collide.
“Whatever you eat, a US$200 lunch or a US$2 hot dog, the results are the same, toilet-wise,” he once said.
It’s not the only solid gold toilet
The gold toilet was one of two Cattelan created in 2016. One version was previously installed at New York’s Guggenheim Museum and later loaned to Blenheim Palace in England, where it was stolen. Two men were convicted in the heist, but investigators believe the piece was likely broken down and melted.
The second version, owned by an unnamed collector, was displayed at Sotheby’s headquarters in the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s auction.
Cattelan’s fame surged again earlier this year when his artwork The Comedian, known globally as “the banana taped to a wall,” made headlines after another public incident.
A visitor at France’s Centre Pompidou-Metz ate the banana portion of the work on July 12, repeating a pattern of disruptions that has followed the piece since its Art Basel debut in 2019.
The museum said staff “acted quickly and calmly,” replacing the fruit within minutes. The banana is considered a perishable component and is meant to be swapped out regularly under the artist’s instructions.
