The previous record for a work by 55-year-old Cattelan was $7.9 million for a statue featuring a wax statue of himself peeping out of a hole in the floor.
Him, which was completed in 2001, disrupts the viewer`s expectations with its size.
From behind, the statue appears to be that of a young boy praying, while the all too recognizable face creates an unsettling contrast.
Cattelan, who considered destroying the piece of work several times, said: `Hitler is pure fear; it’s an image of terrible pain. It even hurts to pronounce his name. And yet that name has conquered my memory, it lives in my head, even if it remains taboo.
`Hitler is everywhere, haunting the specter of history; and yet he is unmentionable, irreproducible, wrapped in a blanket of silence.
`I’m not trying to offend anyone. I don’t want to raise a new conflict or create some publicity; I would just like that image to become a territory for negotiation or a test for our psychoses.’
The statue sparked controversy in 2012 when it was installed in a former Warsaw ghetto, where thousands of Jews died under Nazi rule.
Some accused the work of belittling the suffering of Jewish victims, while others saw the piece as a reflection on evil and its many forms.
The controversial artist is known for taking on big names such as John F. Kennedy, cast in one sculpture lying in a coffin, while the famous La Nona Ora (The Ninth Hour) shows Pope John Paul II being crushed by a meteor.
But Cattelan shrugs off claims he is a provocateur, saying: `I actually think that reality is far more provocative than my art.
`I just take it; I’m always borrowing pieces — crumbs really — of everyday reality.
`If you think my work is provocative, it means that reality is extremely provocative, and we just don’t react to it.
`Maybe we no longer pay attention to the way we live in the world… We are anesthetized.’
Cattelan declared he would retire after his landmark 2011 retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, where his work was strung from the ceiling into the atrium, leaving the galleries empty.
The 55-year-old made headline news in late April after it was revealed a new site-specific work would be installed at the museum.
Titled America, Cattelan will be installing a fully functional toilet, cast in solid gold, at the Guggenheim for the use of its patrons.
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