Billionaire financier and New York Mets owner Steven Cohen has been revealed as the owner of one of Maurizio Cattelan's notorious golden toilet sculptures, titled "America," which is set to go under the hammer at Sotheby's with an opening bid of approximately $10 million. The fully functional artwork, crafted from 100 kilograms of 18-karat gold, has captivated and puzzled the art world for nearly a decade since its creation.
Cohen reportedly acquired his edition of the controversial piece from Marian Goodman Gallery in 2017. The sculpture is part of a limited series consisting of three editions plus two artist's proofs, making it an exceptionally rare and valuable work. The billionaire collector, who founded Point72 Asset Management, is known for his extensive collection of blue-chip artworks by renowned artists including Jasper Johns and Damien Hirst.
The golden toilet already carries a notorious reputation within the art community, largely due to incidents involving other editions of the work. After being displayed at the Guggenheim Museum, one version was offered to the Trump White House, which had initially requested to borrow a Van Gogh painting instead. Another edition made headlines when it was stolen from England's Blenheim Palace in 2019 and has never been recovered, adding to the work's mystique and cultural significance.
Cattelan's satirical creations frequently mock themes of wealth and power, similar to his previous sensation "Comedian" – the duct-taped banana that sold for $6.2 million at Sotheby's last fall. The upcoming auction of "America" comes at a time of growing interest from cryptocurrency collectors and art investors who are eager for another headline-making sale that could set new market records.
Meanwhile, Sotheby's Paris achieved remarkable success this week with the sale of the late real estate mogul Manny Davidson's collection, generating a combined total of €18.6 million ($21.5 million) across two in-person auctions. The impressive results, spanning an evening sale on Wednesday and a day sale on Thursday, established the highest total for a single-owner sale in France this year, with figures expected to climb even higher following a third online sale that concluded on Friday.
The standout piece from Davidson's collection was Michael Sweerts' "A Young Man Wearing a Turban Holding an Upturned Roemer: The Fingernail Test" (1648-52), which commanded €1.6 million ($1.8 million) on Wednesday, significantly exceeding its pre-sale estimate of €800,000-1,200,000 ($925,000-1.3 million). While this represents a solid result, it's worth noting that another rediscovered Sweerts painting achieved over $16 million at Christie's in 2023, demonstrating the continued strength of the Old Master market.
Louis-Xavier Joseph, head of the furniture department at Sotheby's Paris, praised the Davidson collection's exceptional quality and breadth. "The depth and quality of Manny Davidson's collection were truly exceptional, every work told a story of passion, refinement, and curiosity," Joseph told ARTnews following Wednesday's successful evening sale, highlighting the careful curation that characterized Davidson's collecting approach.
In additional art world developments, Gladstone Gallery announced that it now represents the estate of Robert Colescott, the groundbreaking African American artist known for his provocative paintings that challenged art historical narratives and racial stereotypes. This representation marks another significant addition to Gladstone's prestigious roster of contemporary and estate artists.
Looking ahead, the Philadelphia Museum of Art is preparing a major Vincent van Gogh exhibition titled "Van Gogh's Sunflowers: A Symphony in Blue and Yellow," scheduled to run from June 6 to October 11, 2026. The highly anticipated show will bring together two of the artist's celebrated Sunflowers paintings, exploring how van Gogh employed color and brushwork to achieve different expressive effects. The museum's own "Sunflowers" (1889), distinguished by its distinctive turquoise background, will be joined by the famous Arles version with a yellow background (painted in 1888) from London's National Gallery, marking only the fourth time the London painting has traveled abroad since its 1924 acquisition.
