A gleaming 223-pound gold toilet crafted entirely from 18-karat gold by the ever-provocative Maurizio Cattelan has sold for an astonishing $12.1 million at Sotheby’s on Tuesday, November 18.
The piece, titled America, opened with a $10 million bid and quickly drew attention not only for its material but for its message. Cattelan, who once turned the art world on its head with a banana duct-taped to a wall, designed the functional toilet as a satire of America’s obsession with wealth.
“No matter what you eat a lavish lunch or a simple hot dog the outcome is the same,” he remarked, underscoring the work’s blunt commentary on class, excess, and the universality of human need.
Before the auction, the toilet was installed at Sotheby’s New York headquarters, gleaming under gallery lights but off-limits for actual use. “We don’t want people sitting on the art,” joked Sotheby’s expert David Galperin.
The auction house described the piece as a sharp critique of how art, luxury, and commodity culture blur into one glittering spectacle.
Cattelan’s flair for the absurd is well documented his infamous “Comedian” banana became a viral sensation and sold for $6 million, though it had to be replaced repeatedly as it rotted… or was eaten.
With America, he once again proves that when it comes to challenging the culture of wealth, nothing is too impractical or too shiny to make a point.
