List of most expensive paintings

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The Card Players by Paul Cézanne is currently the most expensive painting ever sold.
This graphic shows the on the vertical axis the dollar amount of the most expensive works of art sold at auctions. The horizontal axis indicates the year the painting was completed with the date range running between 1850 and 2000. Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol are indicated in different colors.

This is a list of the highest known prices paid for paintings. The earliest sale on the list (Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh) is from 1987, and more than tripled the previous record price, set only two years before, introducing a new era in top picture prices. The sale was also significant in that for the first time a "modern" painting (in this case from 1888) became the record holder, as opposed to the old master paintings which had always previously held it. Since that time sales of the most valuable paintings have usually been made at auctions, though that had by no means always been the case before, and the list below still shows some "private sales", including the four most expensive. The current record price was paid for The Card Players by Paul Cézanne, which was sold for more than $250 million in 2011.[1][2][3]

Contents

Background [edit]

The world's most famous paintings, especially old master works done before 1800, are generally owned or held at museums, for viewing for patrons. The museums very rarely sell them, and as such, they are quite literally priceless. Guinness World Records lists the Mona Lisa as having the highest insurance value for a painting in history. It was assessed at US$100 million on December 14, 1962, before the painting toured the United States for several months. However, the Louvre chose to spend the money that would have been spent on the insurance premium on security instead. Taking inflation into account, the 1962 value would be around US$759 million today.

The earliest sale on the list below (Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh) is from March 1987; with a price of £24.75 million ($80 million in current dollars) it tripled the previous record and introduced a new era in top art sales. Before this, the highest absolute price paid for a painting was £8.1 million ($22 million in current dollars) paid by the J. Paul Getty Museum for Mantegna's Adoration of the Magi at Christie's in London on April 18, 1985.[4] In constant dollars, the highest price paid before 1987 was by the National Gallery of Art when in February 1967 they acquired Leonardo da Vinci's Ginevra de' Benci for around $5 million ($34 million in current dollars) from the Princely Family of Liechtenstein. The sale of Van Gogh's Sunflowers was also significant in that for the first time a "modern" (in this case 1888) painting became the record holder, as opposed to the old master paintings which previously had dominated the market. In contrast, there are currently only six pre-1850 paintings among the top 43 listed.

Van Gogh and Picasso [edit]

Vincent van Gogh and Pablo Picasso are by far the best represented artists in the list. Whereas Picasso became a wealthy man, Van Gogh (supposedly) sold only one painting in his lifetime, The Red Vineyard, for 400 Francs (about $1600 in 2011) to the impressionist painter and heiress Anna Boch.[5] His seven paintings in the list below alone were sold for over 700 million current dollars.

List of highest prices paid at auctions or private sales (inflation adjusted) [edit]

This list is ordered by consumer price index inflation-adjusted value[note 1] (in bold) in millions of February 2013 United States dollars. Where necessary, the price is first converted to dollars using the exchange rate at the time the painting was sold. The inflation adjustment may change as recent inflation rates are often revised. A list in another currency may be in a slightly different order due to exchange rate fluctuations. Paintings are only listed once, i.e. for the highest price sold.

Adjusted price (in millions) Original price (in millions) Painting Artist Year Date of sale Rank at sale Seller Buyer Auction house
$267.4 $259 +[note 2] The Card Players Paul Cezanne 1892/93 02011-04-01April 2011 1 George Embiricos Royal Family of Qatar Private sale [1][2][3]
$161.3 $140 No. 5, 1948 Jackson Pollock 1948 02006-11-02November 2, 2006 1 David Geffen David Martinez Private sale via Sotheby's[6]
$158.4 $137.5 Woman III Willem de Kooning 1953 02006-11-18November 18, 2006 2 David Geffen Steven A. Cohen Private sale via Larry Gagosian[7]
$155 $155 Le Rêve Pablo Picasso 1932 02013-03-26March 26, 2013 4 Steve Wynn Steven A. Cohen Private sale[8]
$154.5 $135 Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I Gustav Klimt 1907 02006-06-18June 18, 2006 1 Maria Altmann Ronald Lauder, Neue Galerie Private sale via Christie's[9]
$148.3 $82.5 Portrait of Dr. Gachet Vincent van Gogh 1890 01990-05-15May 15, 1990 1 Siegfried Kramarsky family Ryoei Saito[note 3] Christie's, New York
$140.3 $78.1 Bal du moulin de la Galette[note 4] Pierre-Auguste Renoir 1876 01990-05-17May 17, 1990 2 Betsey Whitney Ryoei Saito[note 5] Sotheby's, New York
$127.9 $104.2 Garçon à la pipe Pablo Picasso 1905 02004-05-04May 4, 2004 3 Greentree foundation (Whitney family) Barilla Group?[10] Sotheby's, New York[11]
$121.1 $119.9 The Scream[note 6] Edvard Munch 1895 02012-05-02May 2, 2012 8 Petter Olsen Leon Black [12] Sotheby's, New York
$113.3 $106.5 Nude, Green Leaves and Bust Pablo Picasso 1932 02010-05-04May 4, 2010 7 Frances Lasker Brody estate Christie's, New York[13]
$110 ++ $58 plus exchange of works[note 7] Portrait of Joseph Roulin Vincent van Gogh 1889 01989-08-01August 1, 1989 1 Private collection, Zürich Museum of Modern Art New York Private sale via Thomas Ammann, Fine Art Zurich[14]
$109.2 $95.2 Dora Maar au Chat Pablo Picasso 1941 02006-05-03May 3, 2006 4 Gidwitz family Boris Ivanishvili[15] Sotheby's, New York[16]
$108.4 $53.9 Irises Vincent van Gogh 1889 01987-11-11November 11, 1987 1 son of Joan Whitney Payson Alan Bond[note 8] Sotheby's, New York
$107.2 $100.0 Eight Elvises Andy Warhol 1963 02008-10-01October 2008 10 Annibale Berlingieri Private sale via Philippe Ségalot[17]
$101.3 $87.9 Adele Bloch-Bauer II Gustav Klimt 1912 02006-11-02November 2, 2006 9 Maria Altmann Christie's, New York
$101.2 $71.5 Portrait de l'artiste sans barbe Vincent van Gogh 1889 01998-11-19November 19, 1998 5 Heirs of Jacques Koerfer (de) Christie's, New York
$98.9 $76.7 (£49.5) Massacre of the Innocents Peter Paul Rubens 1611 02002-07-10July 10, 2002 6 an Austrian family Kenneth Thomson[note 9] Sotheby's, London
$92.5 $86.3 Triptych, 1976 Francis Bacon 1976 02008-05-14May 14, 2008 13 Moueix Family, Château Pétrus[18] Roman Abramovich[19] Sotheby's, New York[20]
$92.0 $80.0 False Start[note 10] Jasper Johns 1959 02006-10-12October 12, 2006 10 David Geffen Kenneth C. Griffin Private sale via Richard Gray [21]
$91.8 $57 A Wheatfield with Cypresses Vincent van Gogh 1889 01993-05-01May 1993 5 son of Emil Georg Bührle Walter H. Annenberg[note 11] Private sale via Steven Mazoh
$91.0 $49.3 (F300) Les Noces de Pierrette Pablo Picasso 1905 01989-11-30November 30, 1989 3 Fredrik Roos[22] Tomonori Tsurumaki Binoche et Godeau Paris
$89.7 $47.85 Yo, Picasso Pablo Picasso 1901 01989-05-09May 9, 1989 2 Wendell Cherry Stavros Niarchos Sotheby's, New York
$89.3 $80.0 Turquoise Marilyn Andy Warhol 1964 02007-05-20May 20, 2007 17 Stefan Edlis Steven A. Cohen Private sale via Larry Gagosian[23]
$88.1 $70.0 Portrait of Alfonso d'Avalos, Marquis of Vasto, in Armor with a Page Titian 1533 02003-11-01November 2003 10 AXA insurance company Getty Museum Private sale via Hervé Aaron[24][25]
$87.8 $86.9 Orange, Red, Yellow Mark Rothko 1961 02012-05-08May 8, 2012 24 Estate of David Pincus Christie's, New York[26]
$85.5 $80.5 (£40.9) Le Bassin aux Nymphéas Claude Monet 1919 02008-06-24June 24, 2008 20 J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller Christie's, London[27]
$84.5 $60.5 Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier[note 12] Paul Cézanne 1894 01999-05-10May 10, 1999 9 Whitney Family Sotheby's, New York
$82.2 $39.7 (£24.75) Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers Vincent van Gogh 1888 01987-03-30March 30, 1987 1 daughter-in-law of Chester Beatty Yasuo Goto, Yasuda Comp. Christie's, London
$81.3 $72.8 White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose) Mark Rothko 1950 02007-05-15May 15, 2007 21 David Rockefeller, Sr. Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani[28] Sotheby's, New York[29]
$80.1 $71.7 Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I) Andy Warhol 1963 02007-05-16May 16, 2007 22 Private collection, Zürich Philip Niarchos Christie's, New York[30]
$77.3 $70.6 (£50) Diana and Actaeon Titian 1556–1559 02009-02-01February 1, 2009 26 Duke of Sutherland National Galleries of Scotland & National Gallery, London Private sale[31][32][33]
$77.1 $75 (€50-60) [note 13] Darmstadt Madonna Hans Holbein 1526 02011-07-12July 12, 2011 29 Donatus, Hereditary Prince of Hesse Reinhold Würth Private sale via Christoph Graf Douglas[34]
$76.4 $68 The Gross Clinic Thomas Eakins 1875 02007-04-12April 12, 2007 21 Thomas Jefferson University Philadelphia Museum of Art Private sale.[35]
$75.4 $75.1 No 1 (Royal Red and Blue) Mark Rothko 1954 02012-11-13November 13, 2012 33 John and Anne Marion Sotheby's, New York [36]
$75.1 $40.7 Au Lapin Agile Pablo Picasso 1904 01989-11-27November 27, 1989 5 daughter of Joan Whitney Payson Walter H. Annenberg Sotheby's, New York
$74.4 $38.5 (£20.9) Acrobate et jeune arlequin[37] Pablo Picasso 1905 01988-11-28November 28, 1988 3 heir of Roger Janssen? [note 14] Mitsukoshi Christie's, London
$73.4 $55.0 Femme aux Bras Croisés Pablo Picasso 1902 02000-11-08November 8, 2000 13 McCormick family, Chicago Christie's, New York[38]
$73.2 $69.0 Nude Sitting on a Divan ("La Belle Romaine") Amedeo Modigliani 1917 02010-11-02November 2, 2010 32 Halit Cıngıllıoglu[39] Sotheby's, New York[40]
$73.1 $63.5 Police Gazette[41] Willem de Kooning 1955 02006-10-12October 12, 2006 20 David Geffen Steven A. Cohen Private sale via Richard Gray [21]
$72.6 $71.7 (£45) Diana and Callisto Titian 1556–1559 02012-03-02March 2, 2012 36 Duke of Sutherland National Galleries of Scotland & National Gallery, London Private sale[42]
$68.7 $47.5 Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat Vincent van Gogh 1890 01997-01-011997 11 Stephen Wynn[note 15] Private sale via Acquavella Galleries Inc., New York[43]
$68.4 $49.6 Femme assise dans un jardin Pablo Picasso 1938 01999-11-10November 10, 1999 15 Robert Saidenberg[44] Sotheby's, New York
$67.3 $65.5 (¥425.5) Eagle Standing on Pine Tree[45] Qi Baishi 1946 02011-05-22May 22, 2011 38 Liu Yiqian Hunan TV & Broadcast Intermediary Co[46] China Guardian Auctions
$67.3 $63.4 Men in Her Life Andy Warhol 1962 02010-11-08November 8, 2010 37 Jose Mugrabi Phillips de Pury & Company[47]
$66.0 $35.2 Portrait of a Halberdier Pontormo 1537 01989-05-31May 31, 1989 5 Chauncey Devereaux Stillman Getty Museum Christie's, New York
$65.6 $60.0 Suprematist Composition Kazimir Malevich 1916 02008-11-03November 3, 2008 35 Heirs of Kazimir Malevich Sotheby's, New York[48]
$63.9 $62.1 (¥402.5) Zhichuan Resettlement[49] Wang Meng 1350 02011-06-04June 4, 2011 42 Beijing Poly Auction
$63.3 $61.7 1949-A-No.1 Clyfford Still 1949 02011-11-09November 9, 2011 44 City and County of Denver Sotheby's, New York[50]

Gallery [edit]

See also [edit]

Notes [edit]

  1. ^ Using the U.S. Department Of Labor's CPI-U table, which represents the U.S. city average for all urban consumers.
  2. ^ Exact price (even the currency of sale) is not known, with estimates from $259 million to even $300 million
  3. ^ Reportedly, Gachet's portrait was privately resold to a European buyer in 1997 or 1998 for $65-$90 million through Sotheby’s [1][2]
  4. ^ This is the small version of the painting; the large version is at Musée d'Orsay.
  5. ^ Privately resold for ca. $50 million through Sotheby’s in 1997
  6. ^ One of two pastel versions; another two painted versions (and lithography) exist, all created by Munch
  7. ^ The paintings transferred to the dealers include a late Monet entitled Corona (Water Lilies) from around 1920; Renoir's Reclining Nude of 1902, Kandinsky's Autumn Landscape, Murnau from 1908, and Picasso's Striped Bodice from September 1943.
  8. ^ Alan Bond could not pay off the painting, and Irises was resold (probably for somewhat less) to the Getty Museum.
  9. ^ Later in 2002, Thomson donated his private collection, including the Rubens, to the Art Gallery of Ontario [3]
  10. ^ Most expensive painting by a living artist
  11. ^ Annenberg donated it subsequently to the Metropolitan Museum of Art
  12. ^ Steve Wynn, who bid on the painting at auction, privately acquired the work several months later from the unidentified buyer for an undisclosed, supposedly lower price. Kenneth Griffin acquired it in 2004 from Wynn [4]. Some news articles, probably by mistake, claim that Griffin was the buyer at Sotheby's in 1999 [5].
  13. ^ Usually estimated at "over €50 M" or "between 50 and 60 million Euros". $75M would have been €53M on July 12, 2011.
  14. ^ a Belgian banker and collector who bought it in 1939 for $18,000. His was the last name on the 1988 provenance list; painting came from "a private collection in Arizona"
  15. ^ On Oct. 7, 2005, The New York Times reported that Steven Cohen bought van Gogh's "Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat" and Gauguin's "Bathers" (1903) from Steve Wynn for approximately $110 million [6], though guesses range from $100-150 million. One or both of the paintings may thus occur higher on this list.

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b Art Media Agency (AMA), 250 M$, a new record for a painting?, 4 May 2011
  2. ^ a b Stefan Koldehoff, Welt-online: Das Rätsel vom teuersten Bild aller Zeiten, 31 July 2011 (already mentions Qatar as most likely buyer)
  3. ^ a b Peers, Alexandra (January 2012). "Qatar Purchases Cézanne’s The Card Players for More Than $250 Million, Highest Price Ever for a Work of Art". QuatarSale. Retrieved 2012-02-3. 
  4. ^ William Wilson, Getty Pays $10.5 Million For Painting, New York Times, April 19, 1985
  5. ^ The Red Vineyard Painting at annaboch.com
  6. ^ Carol Vogel, A Pollock Is Sold, Possibly for a Record Price, New York Times, November 2, 2006
  7. ^ Carol Vogel, Landmark De Kooning Crowns Collection, New York Times, November 18, 2006
  8. ^ Carol Vogel & Peter Lattman, $616 Million Poorer, Hedge Fund Owner Still Buys Art, New York Times, March 26, 2013
  9. ^ Carol Vogel, Lauder Pays $135 Million, a Record, for a Klimt Portrait, New York Times, June 19, 2006
  10. ^ Claire Foy-Smith, Who buys paintings for $104m?, BBC News Online, 6 May 2004
  11. ^ Lot description and auction details of "Garçon à la pipe" at Sotheby's website.
  12. ^ Kelly Crow, An Art Mystery Solved: Mogul Is 'Scream' Buyer, The Wall Street Journal, July 11, 2012
  13. ^ Picasso piece sets record for art sold at auction, Reuters, May 5, 2010
  14. ^ Kimmelman, Michael: How the MoMA got the Van Gogh, New York Times, 09 October 1989.
  15. ^ Marc Spiegler, he Hunt for the Red Collector, New York Magazine, 22 August 2006.
  16. ^ Lot description and auction details of "Dora Maar au Chat" at Sotheby's website.
  17. ^ The Pop master's highs and lows, The Economist, 26 November 2009.
  18. ^ Wine Spectator Online: Unfiltered (21 May 2008). "Château Pétrus Makes a Record-Breaking Sale—of Art". 
  19. ^ Cristina Ruiz and Sarah Thornton Roman Abramovich brings home the $86.3m Bacon and the $33.6m Freud, The Art Newspaper, 1 June 2008
  20. ^ Lot description and auction details of "Triptych, 1976" at Sotheby's website.
  21. ^ a b Carol Vogel, Works by Johns and de Kooning Sell for $143.5 Million, The New york Times, October 12, 2006
  22. ^ Judd Tully, Auction; `Blue' Picasso Breaks Record at $51.7 Million, The Washington Post, Dec 1, 1989
  23. ^ Carol Vogel, Inside Art: Buying a Warhol 'Marilyn', New York Times, 25 May 2007
  24. ^ The Getty secures masterpiece portrait by Titian, a November 24, 2003 press release by the Getty Museum
  25. ^ Will Bennett, The $70 million soldier, The Daily Telegraph, 23 February 2004
  26. ^ Mark Rothko painting sets post-war auction record, The Daily Telegraph, 9 May 2012
  27. ^ Lot description and auction details of "Le bassin aux nymphéas" at Christie's website
  28. ^ Thornton, Sarah; Adam, Georgina (May 4, 2008). "Revealed: $72.8m Rockefeller Rothko has gone to Qatar". The Art Newspaper 
  29. ^ Lot description and auction details of "White Center" at Sotheby's website.
  30. ^ Lot description and auction details of "Green Car Crash" at Christie's website
  31. ^ Farah Nayeri, U.K. Buys Titian Diana Painting for 50 Million Pounds, Bloomberg, February 2, 2009
  32. ^ Mike Wade, Titian deal paves way for next acquisition, The Sunday Times, 2 February 2009
  33. ^ Funds secured for Titian painting, BBC News, 2 February 2009
  34. ^ [7], The Art Newspaper, July 15 2011
  35. ^ Salisbury, Stephan (November 14, 2006), A divisive deal, The Philadelphia Inquirer
  36. ^ No. 1 (Royal Red and Blue at Sotheby's
  37. ^ resold for £12m to Stavros Niarchos in 1993
  38. ^ Lot description and auction details of "Femme aux bras croisés" at Christie's website
  39. ^ Kelly Crow, Sotheby's Sells $68.9 Million Modigliani, Wall Street Journal, November 3, 2010
  40. ^ Nu assis sur un divan auction details at Sotheby's
  41. ^ "Willem de Kooning". Twcdc.com. Retrieved 2013-04-30. 
  42. ^ Pauline McLean BBC Scotland arts correspondent. "Titian masterpiece Diana and Callisto saved for nation". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-03-01. 
  43. ^ Carol Vogel, A Gauguin and a van Gogh Change Hands, New York Times, Oct 7, 2005
  44. ^ Carter B. Horsley, The Collection of Eleanore and Daniel Saidenberg
  45. ^ China auction sees Qi Baishi painting sell for $65m
  46. ^ The buyer of 422.5 Million Qi Baishi painting revealed
  47. ^ Carol Vogel, Auction Records Fall at Phillips’s Sale of Contemporary Masters, NY Times, November 10, 2010
  48. ^ Lot description and auction details of "Suprematist Composition" at Sotheby's website.
  49. ^ Wang Meng painting auction for $62 million
  50. ^ Carol Vogel, As Stocks Fall, Art Surges at a $315.8 Million Sale, NY Times, November 9, 2011

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