MAURIZIO CATTELAN'S GOLDEN TOILET "AMERICA" FLASHED THE ART WORLD
MAURIZIO CATTELAN’S
“AMERICA”
THE GOLDEN TOILET THAT FLASHED
THE ART WORLD
Nazli Kok Akbas, Art Editor, Geneva, Switzerland
In 2016, the provocative Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan unveiled one of his most audacious works, a fully functional 18-karat gold toilet titled "America." The piece weighs about 101 kilograms and became a viral phenomenon. It later led to a high-stakes heist and a multimillion-dollar auction.
HOW DO WE VALUE ART?
Cattelan, already notorious for blurring the lines between art, humor, and provocation (think of his famous duct-taped banana), designed America as a biting commentary on wealth, value, and the nature of art. The piece, as Sotheby's says, asks "How do we value art?" by turning a necessary object into something expensive and extraordinary.
When America was installed at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, visitors lined up in the thousands to see it in a gender-neutral bathroom.
Maurizio Cattelan once summed up the irony with characteristic bluntness:
"Whatever you eat—a $200 lunch or a $2 hot dog—the results are the same, toilet-wise."
He suggested that this was part of the work's critical edge. By gilding the ordinary, he draws attention to the absurdity of value systems.
A GOLDEN TOILET WAS STOLEN FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE HISTORY…
In September 2019, America made headlines for an unexpected reason: the Cattelan's golden toilet was on display at Blenheim Palace, Winston Churchill's stately English home. Rather than just being on display, it was plumbed in and available for use.
On September 14, a gang of thieves broke into the palace. They smashed a window and stole a golden fixture in under five minutes.
The heist was spectacular and brash, and the thieves melted down the insured toilet to get £4.75 million. Authorities believe they erased the sculpture's identity.
THE AUCTION SURRECTION OF THE GOLDEN TOILET...
On November 18, 2025, America debuted at Sotheby's in New York. The only existing version of the sculpture was at the auction, as the other one stolen at Blenheim is presumed lost.
Sotheby's set the opening bid at the market value of the gold (roughly $10M), not an "art reserve." The logic is striking: the base material is the floor price, uniting concept and commodity.
The hammer fell, and the sculpture sold for $10 million. With buyer's premiums, the total was $12.1 million.
Ripley's Believe It or Not! acquired the world's most extravagant restroom fixture. The company expressed excitement on social media.
Ripley's says they're exploring ways for visitors to view or use the toilet, but with full plumbing.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF GOLDEN TOILET CALLED AMERICA…
At the heart of America is a sharp, layered critique of value, both material and symbolic. Cattelan plays with tension between what something is made and what someone is willing to pay for it. By making a toilet out of gold, he connects the most basic bodily function with the highest-status material.
Sotheby's described the work as questioning "the collision of artistic production and commodity value."
Cattelan isn’t just making joke about money. There is a deeper existential tension here. Toilets are humble, necessary, and intimate, while gold is opulent and eternal and has been historically associated with power. Gold symbolizes immortality, which is why alchemists sought it. In contrast, a toilet represents mortality, waste, and the most human of acts.
EVERYONE IS EQUAL AT THE GOLDEN TOILET…
Cattelan's own quip, "Whatever you eat, the results are the same," underscores the fact that even luxury cannot escape the inevitability and equality of basic biology.
In his work, everyone is equal at the golden seat, regardless of how much money was spent on lunch or art.
The ultimate irony is that the heist may have been the most literal interpretation of his concept, criminals saw it not as art, but pure commodity. And Cattelan seems to enjoy the irony and his willingness to blur the lines between art and stunt is central to his practice.
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