When Donald Trump Was Offered a Golden Toilet Which He Turned Down Because He Already Had One

Donald Trump, the former president, has a reputation for leading an extravagant life. In 2018, the Republican leader asked the Guggenheim Museum in New York to lend the White House a beautiful painting by Vincent Van Gogh. As per The Guardian, an 18-karat gold toilet seat was offered in lieu of the 1888 masterwork, Landscape with Snow, that was requested to be acquired.

As per BBC, Nancy Spector, curator of the museum, replied to the White House's request saying, "I am sorry... to inform you that we are 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," she wrote in an email.

The email also stated that the owners had granted permission for the 1888 Van Gogh painting to be shown at the museum's sibling organization. The curator did note that the White House may have access to the gold toilet designed by Maurizio Cattelan, an Italian artist, "for a long-term loan". Ms Spector added, "It is, of course, extremely valuable and somewhat fragile, but we would provide all the instructions for its installation and care." 

As per Vanity Fair, for a year, Maurizio Cattelan's functional toilet titled - 'America' was available for public use in a public restroom on the fifth floor of the museum. It appears that the toilet, which is meant to symbolize America's luxury and prosperity, was proposed to be the ideal artwork for Trump since his $100 million Manhattan apartment is adorned with gold furnishings, décor, and accent.

As per Reuters, Spector had previously discussed the lavish golden seat in a 2017 blog post when she made fun of the president. People were moved by the gold toilet's "Trump reference," according to her, "during the sculpture's time at the Guggenheim." Spector wrote, “When the sculpture came off view on Sept. 15, Trump had been in office for 238 days, a term marked by scandal and defined by the deliberate rollback of countless civil liberties, in addition to climate-change denial that puts our planet in peril.” 

The museum's satirical response was a jab towards the Republican leader's opulent $100 million NY penthouse. As per TravelAndLeisure, the Trump family's three-story penthouse on Fifth Avenue in New York City is furnished with 24-karat gold and Louis XIV-inspired marble details. A dedicated elevator whisks Trump to his office on the 26th floor of Trump Tower. It is furnished with luxurious furniture and grand chandeliers, and the room is adorned with gold accents on everything from the moldings and ceilings to the trays and glasses. The expense of maintaining the building's perimeter security is more than $1 million per day for New York City.

“This is a very complex unit; building this unit, if you look at the columns and the carvings, this building, this unit was harder than building the building itself,” Trump had revealed to biographer, Michael D’Antonio, in a 2014 interview. The penthouse was designed by the late Angelo Donghia, who also created the interiors of Diana Ross, Mary Tyler Moore, and Ralph Lauren.