The Trumps asked to borrow a Van Gogh for the White House. The Guggenheim offered an 18K gold toilet.

The emailed response from the Guggenheim’s chief curator to the White House was polite but firm: the museum could not accommodate a request to “borrow” a painting by Vincent Van Gogh for President and Melania Trump’s private living quarters.

Instead, wrote the curator, Nancy Spector, another piece was available, one that was nothing like “Landscape With Snow,” the lovely 1888 Van Gogh rendering of a man in a black hat walking along a path in Arles with his dog.

The curator’s alternative: an 18-karat, fully functioning, solid gold toilet - an interactive work entitled “America” that critics have described as pointed satire aimed at the excess of wealth in this country.

Last edited by DollyLongstaff (1/26/2018 6:18 am)