The most expensive paintings of the world

Painting is not only one of the brightest ways to express feelings, emotions, experiences, mood, socio-cultural and historical features of time period and standards of life, but also a special type of investment. This is paintings that are most often discussed in auction houses, and the cost of some artworks reaches fabulous sums. So, we will describe the most expensive paintings of our time, which cost up to $450 million in this article.

15. "Three Studies of Lucian Freud" (1969), Francis Bacon.

This artwork is a typical Bacon style triptych, distorting reality and tending to abstraction. Lucien is depicted sitting on a chair inside a kind of cage at three different angles. In 2014, the artwork was shown at Christie's in New York and sold for $127 million.

14. "No. 5" (1948), Jackson Pollock.

For the first time, the painting was bought in 1949 by art dealer Alonso Assorio for $1,500. But during delivery, the artwork was damaged, as a result of which the author completely rewrote it during the reconstruction process. Pollock hoped that Alonso would not notice the changes, but the buyer was attentive and the artist failed to hide the mistake. However, the art dealer thought that the changes only added depth and sophistication to the artwork.

In 2006, the cost of the painting "No. 5" was already $140 million, and it became part of the Mexican millionaire, David Martenes’s collection.

13. "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II" (1912), Gustav Klimt.

Adele was the only model depicted by Klimt twice. Both artworks received recognition and became world-famous. Unfortunately, during the Second World War, both portraits of the girl were stolen by the Nazis. However, in the post-war period they were found and sent to the Vienna Museum.

In 2006, the famous American TV host, Oprah Winfrey bought the painting for $87.9 million, and 10 years later the woman sold the portrait to a collector from China for $150 million.

12. "Lying Nude (on the left side)" (1917), Amedeo Modigliani.

The artworks of the artist, who received the nickname "The Last of Bohemia", did not gain their worldwide fame and recognition immediately. During his lifetime, and even after death, the paintings did not differ in high cost, and more noise and discussion, rather, caused the lifestyle and behavior of the artist himself. But in the XXIst century, the situation changed radically, when in 2003 the Irish businessman John Munnier purchased the painting for $26.9 million. And in 2018, the Irishman sold the artwork for $157.2 million. Today, two artworks by Modigliani are included in the top of the most expensive paintings of the world.

11. "Masterpiece" (1962), Roy Lichtenstein.

The American artist was inspired to create this artwork by a comic strip, where the main characters sat in a similar position, and the speech balloon contained the phrase: "but someday the bitterness will pass ...". The painting is made with oil paints using the Ben-Day dots technique, which is characteristic of the artist.

In 2017, The Masterpiece was worth $165 million when it was acquired by American historian Stephen Cohen.

10. "Lying Nude" (1918) by Amedeo Modigliani.

This painting is considered the most frequently exhibited artwork for the present moment. In 2015, the painting was acquired by the famous Chinese collector Liu Yiqiang for $170.4 million. Thus, it entered the top of the most expensive paintings in the world.

9. "Algerian women, Version O" (1955), Pablo Picasso.

"Algerian Women" is a series of artworks consisting of 15 paintings. "Version O" is the concluding and most successful painting in this series. In 1997, the artwork was bought for $31.9 million. Then, at the 2015 Christie's auction, the painting was acquired by the ex-Prime Minister of Qatar for $179.4 million.

8. "Portraits of Maerten Soolmans and Oopjien Coppit" (1634), Rembrandt.

Wedding portraits, written by the hand of the great master of the XVII th century, long belonged to the Rothschild family, until in 2015 the Louvre and the State Museum of France joined forces to purchase portraits for 180 million euros.

7. "Water Serpents II" (1907), Gustav Klimt.

Unlike the portraits of Adele Bloch-Bauer, this painting was not put up for auction until 2012, when a skilled French art dealer persuaded the heirs of the world-famous artist to sell the painting to Russian billionaire and collector Dmitry Rybolovlev for $183.8 million.

6. "No. 6 (Purple, Green, Red)" (1951), Mark Rothko.

For many years this artwork was the subject of dreams for the French expert and art dealer Yves Bouvier. At that time, the painting had belonged to the Muex dynasty of French winemakers for several decades. For years Bouvier hovered around this family, periodically buying wine and other less valuable paintings from them, in the hope of acquiring "No. 6 (Purple, Green, Red)" one day. His hopes were eventually justified in 2014, when the Muex family expressed a desire to sell the Rothko’s painting. The experienced art dealer soon acquired the painting for $80 million and resold it to billionaire Rybolovlev for $186 million.

5. "No. 17A" (1948), Jackson Pollock.

Pollock's work was perceived ambiguously. Some considered his drip paint technique to be ingenious, while many called his work "daubs". Anyway, the presented artwork was sold at auction for $200 million, which caused a lot of discussion and debate in the art world.

4. "The Card Players" (1890 - 1895), Paul Cezanne.

In fact, the world-famous "Card Players" is not one painting by Paul Cezanne, but a series of five artworks. They differ in the number of depicted players. For a long time, only one of the paintings was in a private collection, while the rest were housed in various museums around the world. But in 2012, it was bought for $250 million for further placement at the Qatar National Museum. At that time, it became the most expensive and discussed painting of the world.

3. "When is the wedding?" (1892), Paul Gauguin.

The presented artwork also set a new record in the world of painting, when in 2015, at a private auction, the Qatari authorities acquired the artwork of Gauguin for $300 million.

2. “Interchange” (1955), Willem de Kooning.

This artwork is of particular value, since it was the one, who marked the change in the style of the author - an American artist with Dutch roots. In the ranking of the most expensive paintings of the world, it is on the same level with the artwork of the French painter, Paul Gauguin, "When is the wedding?", as in 2015 its price was also $300 million. The painting was bought by American billionaire and investor, Kenneth Griffin.

1. "Savior of the World" (around 1499), Leonardo da Vinci.

The pricing story of this painting is truly fantastic. To begin with, the credibility of Leonardo da Vinci's authorship is still in doubt. In this case, we can say that most experts are inclined to believe that the artwork really belongs to the hand of the great master of the Renaissance. However, there are those who are inclined to believe that only part of the work was written by Leonardo, and the main work was done by his student. Thus, in 1958, the artwork was sold for only 45 pounds as a painting by Leonardo da Vinci's student, Giovanni Antonio. Then, in 2005, "The Savior of the World" was sold at auction for almost $10,000. At that time the artwork became interesting to experts, as appeared suggestions that it really could be the original.

The best restorers and experts carried out a thorough research and came to a unanimous conclusion, deciding that the painting really belongs to the brush of the great da Vinci. After that, the painting was already sold with the authorship of Leonardo, and in 2017 it went under the hammer in New York at an auction for $450 million, $50 million of which was the commission of the auction house. The buyer was the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Badr bin Abdullah, who participated in the auction on behalf of the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism.

The artwork was supposed to be exhibited at a branch of the Parisian Louvre Museum in the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi. However, according to the latest information, this painting is kept on the yacht of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. In the future, they want to transfer it to the cultural center, which is being built in Saudi Arabia.

The TOP-15 most expensive paintings of the world of our time were presented to your attention. As we can see, the pricing process in the art world works according to its own, sometimes rather unpredictable rules and differs significantly from the pricing principles in other areas.

If you still have questions about painting, share with us in the comments, and we will try to reveal the answers in the following blog posts.