On November 18, 2025, Maurizio Cattelan ’swork America sold at Sotheby ’s The Now and Contemporary evening auction for $12,110,000, marking the first public sale of this work in 2016. Made from just over 100 kilograms of solid 18-karat gold, the toilet has gained international notoriety for its ability to combine material opulence and object banality.
To date, the work is surprising for the contrast between the everyday object and the precious material, creating an effect of uncanny surrealism. The technical complexity of its making highlights both Cattelan’s mastery and his ongoing experimentation with the limits of imitation. The artist’s formal precision also draws comparisons with Constantin Brancusi’s sculpture, such as Bird in Space from 1928, and contemporary works such as Jeff Koons’ Bunny. Similarly to Koons, who transformed an inflatable rabbit into reflective stainless steel, Cattelan takes an everyday object and covers it with precious metal, redefining the expressive possibilities of the ready-made. What ’ s more, America continues the tradition begun by Marcel Duchamp with Fountain (1917), the famous urinal signed “R. Mutt” that defied definitions of art by stripping the object of its original function.
Fifty years later, Cattelan reinterprets this story: the solid gold urinal, unlike Duchamp’s readymade placed on a pedestal, retains its original function. The installation at the Guggenheim in 2016 allowed visitors to interact directly with the work, offering a novel experience with respect to the traditional distance between viewer and museum object. Curator Nancy Spector highlighted how, in a museum where contact with works is often forbidden, it was a unique opportunity to spend time alone with a work by a major contemporary artist. More than 100,000 visitors lined up to access the fifth-floor bathroom where America was located, which was guarded by a security guard. Lucius Elliott, head of contemporary art sales at Sotheby’s New York, pointed out that the artist’s return to the Guggenheim was not just a symbolic return, but a conceptual checkmate: the work’s material value, which is evident, is matched by the universal function of the bathroom, traditionally a private, everyday place.
The work also has an eventful history. In September 2019, during its exhibition at Blenheim Palace, adequate security measures were not taken. Placed in a small bathroom near Winston Churchill’s birth chamber, America was stolen by five thieves in the early hours of Sept. 14, when the 18-karat gold lamp was ripped from the plumbing. The theft attracted global attention. Despite some initial speculation, Cattelan was not involved in the robbery. Two of those responsible were convicted in June 2025, but the work was never recovered. The sale at Sotheby’s thus concludes a complex chapter in America’s history, solidifying its reputation and underscoring the market’s interest in works that challenge artistic conventions and traditional concepts of value. The transaction also demonstrates Cattelan’s ability to combine conceptual provocation and commercial appeal, confirming America ’s central role in the international contemporary art scene.
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| Cattelan by the pound: his toilet sold for over $12 million |
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