The US president reportedly asked New York’s Guggenheim Museum if he could borrow a Van Gogh for the White House - but was offered a gold toilet instead. Used by 100,000 visitors, the golden lavatory is thought to be a metaphor for Trump’s America.
The Washington Post says the museum wrote back to say it could not lend the White House the painting, but was willing to offer an 18-karat gold sculpture by the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan of a “functioning toilet” instead.
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The exhibit, titled America, is seen as a “pointed satire on excessive wealth in the US”, says the BBC.
Museum curator Nancy Spector wrote about the piece in a blog last year, calling it “at once humorous and searing in its critique of our current realities”.
“Though crafted from millions of dollars’ worth of gold, the sculpture is actually a great leveller,” she said, adding that “Cattelan’s anticipation of Trump’s America will, perhaps, be the lasting imprint of the sculpture’s time at the Guggenheim”.
The cost of the artwork has not been revealed.
Asked to explain the meaning of the gold toilet offer, Spector reportedly said: “What’s the point of our life? Everything seems absurd until we die and then it makes sense.”
The White House has made no comment, but many have taken to Twitter to take a swipe at the sitting president.
Not everyone is so enamoured of the Guggenheim’s approach, however.
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