Maurizio Cattelan’s 18-karat gold toilet sculpture, America (2016), sold for $12.1 million at Sotheby’s in New York on Wednesday night, setting a new benchmark for the Italian conceptual artist’s market. The fully functioning artwork, weighing 220 pounds, was among the most anticipated lots of the contemporary art evening sale.
The sale price includes buyer’s premium, with bidding driven by collectors familiar with Cattelan’s provocative commentary on wealth, excess, and American culture. America was originally installed at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 2016, where visitors were invited to use it as a working restroom fixture. It later made headlines when the piece was stolen from Blenheim Palace in England in 2019 and subsequently recovered.
Cattelan, known for works that blur satire and critique—such as the taped banana Comedian (2019)—conceived the gold toilet as a direct engagement with consumerism and inequality. Its new owner has not been publicly identified, though Sotheby’s confirmed that the winning bid came from a private collector.
The sale underscores the continued market appetite for conceptually charged works that merge craftsmanship with cultural commentary, reaffirming Cattelan’s place among the most sought-after living artists.
Athmaja Biju is the Editor at Abir Pothi. She is a Translator and Writer working on Visual Culture.
