Paul Schwartzman—The Washington Post:
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 1888 van Gogh rendering of a man in a black hat walking along a path in Arles, France, with his dog.
The curator’s alternative: an 18-karat, fully functioning, solid gold toilet — an interactive work titled “America” that critics have described as pointed satire aimed at the excess of wealth in this country.
The Guggenheim, of New York, knows its Trump. Response emailed, even.
Most presidents borrow from the Smithsonian museums, which maintain a massive collection of all styles and periods. Leave it to Trump to step out of bounds.
#Trump #goldenToilet #vanGogh
A Random Stroll 