Trump Asks The Guggenheim For A Van Gogh He Gets A Golden Toilet Instead

The White House’s request for a long-term loan is pretty standard practice, but the Guggenheim’s response to President Trump’s desire for Vincent van Gogh’s Landscape with Snow (1888) is… not. In an email declining the van Gogh loan, the museum’s artistic director and chief curator Nancy Spector offered an alternative: a solid gold toilet titled America.

Maurizio Cattelan’s America graced the Guggenheim Museum from September 2016 through September of last year. The artwork, a toilet cast in solid 18-karat gold, is a satirical wink at the excesses of America’s one percent (as regularly exemplified within the art market); yet the irony, as Cattelan has explained, is that “whatever you eat, a $200 lunch or a $2 hot dog, the results are the same, toilet-wise.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BYqrjS1nwbD/?hl=en&taken-by=guggenheim

The gilded sculpture garnered heaps of attention throughout the last year, but since mid-September it’s been in storage. And when Nancy Spector received an email from a White House representative requesting Vincent van Gogh’s Landscape with Snow—a dreamy winterscape depicting a man with his dog—for exhibition in President Trump’s private living quarters, Spector saw a golden opportunity.

In an email back to the White House’s Donna Hayashi Smith, Spector explained that the Guggenheim is “unable to participate in this loan since the painting is part of the museum’s Thannhauser Collection, which is prohibited from travel except for the rarest of occasions.” But it just so happened that on that very day, America was finishing its year-long run at the museum.

“Fortuitously,” Spector offered, “a marvelous work by the celebrated contemporary Italian artist, Maurizio Cattelan, is coming off view today… and he would like to offer it to the White House for long-term installation.” The artwork, she added, is “a solid, 18k gold toilet that was installed in [the museum’s] public restrooms for all to use.”

Spector has been outspoken against Trump since his election, and her email to the White House has since garnered headlines for weaving weapons-grade sass into an otherwise professional note. As The Washington Post pointed out, it wasn’t a bad suggestion, either. “On the face of it, President Trump might appreciate an artist’s rendering of a gilded toilet, given his well-documented history of installing gold-plated fixtures in his residences, his properties and even his airplane.” That said, “the president is also a self-described germaphobe,” but Spector probably knew that too.

While Maurizio Cattelan has said that America was inspired by multiple sources—in a Guggenheim blog post, Caitlin Dover notes the obvious reference to Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain (1917), as well as Cattelan’s fascination with the toilet as a symbol and a “vessel”—it’s impossible to avoid making a direct connection between the sculpture and President Trump. Indeed, he is “another layer,” Cattelan admitted, “but it shouldn’t be the only one.”

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.

We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits. We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future.