List of most expensive and famous paintings

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No. 5, 1948 by Jackson Pollock is currently the most expensive painting ever sold.

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 three most expensive. The current record price was paid for No. 5, 1948 by Jackson Pollock, which was sold for US$140 million in 2006 (approx. $156.8 million in CPI-adjusted 2011 US dollars).[1] According to some rumours, one of the paintings in The Card Players series by Paul Cézanne was sold in a private sale for over $250 million early in 2011.[2][3]

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[edit] Background

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$743 million in 2011.

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 2011 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 2011 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 2011 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 five pre-1800 paintings among the top 41 listed, none of which have reached the Sunflowers constant dollar price.

[edit] Van Gogh and Picasso

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) to the impressionist painter and heiress Anna Boch.[5] His seven paintings in the list below alone were sold for $670 million.

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

This list is ordered by consumer price index inflation-adjusted value[6] (in bold) in millions of June 2011 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
$156.8 $140 No. 5, 1948 Jackson Pollock 1948 2006-11-02 1 David Geffen Private sale via Sotheby’s[7]
$154.0 $137.5 Woman III Willem de Kooning 1953 2006-11-18 2 David Geffen Steven A. Cohen Private sale via Larry Gagosian[8]
$150.2 $135 Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I Gustav Klimt 1907 2006-06-18 1 Maria Altmann Ronald Lauder, Neue Galerie Private sale via Christie’s[9]
$144.1 $82.5 Portrait of Dr. Gachet Vincent van Gogh 1890 1990-05-15 1 Siegfried Kramarsky family Ryoei Saito[10] Christie’s, New York
$136.4 $78.1 Bal du moulin de la Galette[11] Pierre-Auguste Renoir 1876 1990-05-17 2 Betsey Whitney Ryoei Saito[12] Sotheby’s, New York
$124.3 $104.2 Garçon à la pipe Pablo Picasso 1905 2004-05-04 3 Greentree foundation (Whitney family) Barilla Group?[13] Sotheby’s, New York[14]
$110.2 $106.5 Nude, Green Leaves and Bust Pablo Picasso 1932 2010-05-04 7 Frances Lasker Brody estate Christie’s, New York[15]
$107 ++ $58 plus exchange of works[16] Portrait of Joseph Roulin Vincent van Gogh 1889 1989-08-01 1 Private collection, Zürich Museum of Modern Art New York Private sale via Thomas Ammann, Fine Art Zurich[17]
$106.1 $95.2 Dora Maar au Chat Pablo Picasso 1941 2006-05-03 4 Gidwitz family Boris Ivanishvili[18] Sotheby’s, New York[19]
$105.1 $53.9 Irises Vincent van Gogh 1889 1987-11-11 1 son of Joan Whitney Payson Alan Bond[20] Sotheby’s, New York
$104.2 $100.0 Eight Elvises Andy Warhol 1963 2008-10 10 Annibale Berlingieri Private sale via Philippe Ségalot[21]
$98.5 $87.9 Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II Gustav Klimt 1912 2006-11-02 9 Maria Altmann Christie’s, New York
$98.5 $71.5 Portrait de l’artiste sans barbe Vincent van Gogh 1889 1998-11-19 5 Heirs of Jacques Koerfer Christie’s, New York
$96.1 $76.7 (£49.5) Massacre of the Innocents Peter Paul Rubens 1611 2002-07-10 6 an Austrian family Kenneth Thomson[22] Sotheby’s, London
$89.9 $86.3 Triptych, 1976 Francis Bacon 1976 2008-05-14 13 Moueix Family, Château Pétrus[23] Roman Abramovich[24] Sotheby’s, New York[25]
$89.5 $80.0 False Start[26] Jasper Johns 1959 2006-10-12 10 David Geffen Kenneth C. Griffin Private sale via Richard Gray
$89.2 $57 A Wheatfield with Cypresses Vincent van Gogh 1889 1993-05 5 son of Emil Georg Bührle Walter H. Annenberg[27] Private sale via Steven Mazoh
$88.4 $49.3 (F300) Les Noces de Pierrette Pablo Picasso 1905 1989-11-30 3 Fredrik Roos[28] Tomonori Tsurumaki Binoche et Godeau Paris
$87.2 $47.85 Yo, Picasso Pablo Picasso 1901 1989-05-09 2 Wendell Cherry Stavros Niarchos Sotheby’s, New York
$86.8 $80.0 Turquoise Marilyn Andy Warhol 1964 2007-05-20 17 Stefan Edlis Steven A. Cohen Private sale via Larry Gagosian[29]
$83.1 $80.5 (£40.9) Le Bassin aux Nymphéas Claude Monet 1919 2008-06-24 19 J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller Christie’s, London[30]
$82.2 $60.5 Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier[31] Paul Cézanne 1894 1999-05-10 9 Whitney Family Sotheby’s, New York
$79.9 $39.7 (£24.75) Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers Vincent van Gogh 1888 1987-03-30 1 daughter-in-law of Chester Beatty Yasuo Goto, Yasuda Comp. Christie’s, London
$79.1 $72.8 White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose) Mark Rothko 1950 2007-05-15 20 David Rockefeller, Sr. Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani[32] Sotheby’s, New York[33]
$77.8 $71.7 Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I) Andy Warhol 1963 2007-05-16 21 Private collection, Zürich Philip Niarchos Christie’s, New York[34]
$75.1 $70.6 (£50) Diana and Actaeon Titian 1556–1559 2009-02-01 25 Duke of Sutherland National Galleries of Scotland & National Gallery, London Private sale[35][36][37]
$74.3 $68 The Gross Clinic Thomas Eakins 1875 2007-04-12 20 Thomas Jefferson University Philadelphia Museum of Art Private sale.[38]
$73.0 $40.7 Au Lapin Agile Pablo Picasso 1904 1989-11-27 5 daughter of Joan Whitney Payson Walter H. Annenberg Sotheby’s, New York
$72.3 $38.5 (£20.9) Acrobate et jeune Arlequin[39] Pablo Picasso 1905 1988-11-28 3 heir of Roger Janssen? Mitsukoshi Christie’s, London
$71.3 $55.0 Femme aux Bras Croisés Pablo Picasso 1902 2000-11-08 13 McCormick family, Chicago Christie’s, New York[40]
$71.3 $69.0 Nude Sitting on a Divan (“La Belle Romaine”) Amedeo Modigliani 1917 2010-11-09 31 Halit Cingillioğlu[41] Sotheby’s, New York[42]
$71.0 $63.5 Police Gazette Willem de Kooning 1955 2006-10-12 19 David Geffen Steven A. Cohen Private sale via Richard Gray Gallery
$70.3 $70.3 (€50) Darmstadt Madonna Hans Holbein 1526 2011-07-12 33 Donatus, Hereditary Prince of Hesse Reinhold Würth Private sale via Christoph Graf Douglas[43]
$67.6 $48.4 Le Rêve[44] Pablo Picasso 1932 1997-11-10 11 Ganz family[45] Wolfgang Flöttl[46] Christie’s, New York.
$66.8 $47.5 Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat Vincent van Gogh 1890 1997 11 Stephen Wynn[47] Private sale via Acquavella Galleries Inc., New York[48]
$66.5 $49.6 Femme assise dans un jardin Pablo Picasso 1938 1999-11-10 15 Robert Saidenberg[49] Sotheby’s, New York
$65.5 $65.5 (¥425.5) Eagle Standing on Pine Tree[50] Qi Baishi 1946 2011-05-22 36 Liu Yiqian Hunan TV & Broadcast Intermediary Co[51] China Guardian Auctions
$65.5 $63.4 Men in Her Life Andy Warhol 1962 2010-11-08 35 Jose Mugrabi Phillips de Pury & Company[52]
$64.2 $35.2 Portrait of a Halberdier Pontormo 1537 1989-05-31 5 Chauncey Devereaux Stillman Getty Museum Christie’s, New York
$63.8 $60.0 Suprematist Composition Kazimir Malevich 1916 2008-11-03 34 Heirs of Kazimir Malevich Sotheby’s, New York[53]
$62.1 $62.1 (¥402.5) Zhichuan Resettlement[54] Wang Meng c.1350 2011-06-04 40 Beijing Poly Auction
$61.7 $61.7 1949-A-No.1 Clyfford Still 1949 2011-11-09 42 City and County of Denver Sotheby’s, New York[55]

[edit] Gallery

Here are the links:
Pablo Picasso Paintings

Salvador Dali Paintings