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 trebled 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 a work from 1948 by Jackson Pollock, and there are only three old master paintings on the list below.
The world's most famous paintings, especially old master works done before 1800, are generally owned by museums, which 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 approximately US$670 million in 2006.
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List of highest prices paid at auctions or private sales (inflation adjusted)
This list is ordered by consumer price index inflation-adjusted value (in bold) in millions of 2009 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 would probably be in a slightly different order due to exchange rate fluctuations. Paintings are only listed once, i.e. for the highest price sold.
Before the March 1987 sale of Van Gogh's Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers for $39.7 million ($74.5 million in 2009 dollars), the highest absolute price paid for a painting was $10.45 million ($20.7 million in 2009 dollars) paid by the J. Paul Getty Museum for Mantegna's Adoration of the Magi at Christie's in London on April 18, 1985[8]. In constant dollars, the highest price paid before 1987 was by the National Gallery of Art when in February 1967 they acquired Da Vinci's Ginevra de' Benci for around $5 million ($32 million in 2009 dollars) from the Princely Family of Liechtenstein.
| Adjusted price (in millions) | Original price (in millions) | Painting | Artist | Year | Date of sale | Seller | Buyer | Auction house |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $148.1 | $140 | No. 5, 1948 | Jackson Pollock | 1948 | 2 Nov 2006 | David Geffen | David Martinez ? | Private sale via Sotheby's [1] |
| $145.4 | $137.5 | Woman III | Willem de Kooning | 1953 | Nov 2006 | David Geffen | Steven A. Cohen | Private sale via Larry Gagosian [2] |
| $142.8 | $135 | Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I | Gustav Klimt | 1907 | 18 Jun 2006 | Maria Altmann | Ronald Lauder, Neue Galerie | Private sale via Christie's [3] |
| $134.6 | $82.5 | Portrait of Dr. Gachet | Vincent van Gogh | 1890 | 15 May 1990 | Siegfried Kramarsky family | Ryoei Saito [4] | Christie's, New York |
| $127.4 | $78.1 | Bal du moulin de la Galette[5] | Pierre-Auguste Renoir | 1876 | 17 May 1990 | Betsey Whitney | Ryoei Saito [6] | Sotheby's, New York |
| $117.6 | $104.2 | Garçon à la pipe | Pablo Picasso | 1905 | 04 May 2004 | Greentree foundation (Whitney family) | Guido Barilla? [7] | Sotheby's, New York [8] |
| $103.1 + | $58 plus exchange of works[9] | "Portrait of Joseph Roulin" | Vincent van Gogh | 1889 | 01 Aug 1989 | Swiss private Collection | Museum of Modern Art New York | Private sale via Thomas Ammann, Fine Art Zurich[10] |
| $101.2 | $53.9 | Irises | Vincent van Gogh | 1889 | 11 Nov 1987 | son of Joan Whitney Payson | Alan Bond [11] | Sotheby's, New York |
| $100.7 | $95.2 | Dora Maar au Chat | Pablo Picasso | 1941 | 03 May 2006 | Gidwitz family | Boris Ivanishvili? [12] | Sotheby's, New York [13] |
| $99.7 | $100.0 | Eight Elvises | Andy Warhol | 1963 | Oct 2008 | Annibale Berlingieri | Louvre Abu Dhabi[citation needed] | Private sale via Philippe Ségalot [14] |
| $93.5 | $71.5 | Portrait de l'artiste sans barbe | Vincent van Gogh | 1889 | 19 Nov 1998 | heirs of Jacques Koerfer | Christie's, New York | |
| $93.0 | $87.9 | Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II | Gustav Klimt | 1912 | 08 Nov 2006 | Maria Altmann | Christie's, New York | |
| $90.9 | $76.7 (£49.5) | Massacre of the Innocents | Peter Paul Rubens | 1611 | 10 Jul 2002 | an Austrian family | Kenneth Thomson [15] | Sotheby's, London |
| $85.5 | $86.3 | Triptych, 1976 | Francis Bacon | 1976 | 14 May 2008 | Moueix Family, Château Pétrus [16] | Roman Abramovich [9] | Sotheby's, New York [17] |
| $84.8 | $49.3 (F300) | Les Noces de Pierrette | Pablo Picasso | 1905 | 30 Nov 1989 | Fredrik Roos | Tomonori Tsurumaki | Binoche et Godeau Paris |
| $84.6 | $80.0 | False Start [18] | Jasper Johns | 1959 | 12 Oct 2006 | David Geffen | Kenneth C. Griffin | private sale via Richard Gray |
| $84.1 | $57 | A Wheatfield with Cypresses | Vincent van Gogh | 1889 | May 1993 | son of Emil Georg Bührle | Walter H. Annenberg [19] | Private sale via Steven Mazoh |
| $82.3 | $80.0 | Turquoise Marilyn | Andy Warhol | 1964 | 20 May 2007 | Stefan Edlis | Steven A. Cohen | Private sale brokered by Larry Gagosian [20] |
| $82.3 | $47.85 | Yo, Picasso | Pablo Picasso | 1901 | 09 May 1989 | Wendell Cherry | Stavros Niarchos | Sotheby's, New York |
| $79.7 | $80.5 (£40.9) | Le Bassin aux Nymphéas | Claude Monet | 1919 | 24 Jun 2008 | J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller | Christie's, London [21] | |
| $77.4 | $60.5 | Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier [22] | Paul Cézanne | 1894 | 10 May 1999 | Whitney Family | Sotheby's, New York | |
| $74.9 | $72.8 | White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose) | Mark Rothko | 1950 | 15 May 2007 | David Rockefeller, Sr. | Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani[23] | Sotheby's, New York [24] |
| $74.5 | $39.7 (£24.75) | Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers | Vincent van Gogh | 1888 | 30 Mar 1987 | daughter-in-law of Chester Beatty | Yasuo Goto, Yasuda Comp. | Christie's, London |
| $73.7 | $71.7 | Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I) | Andy Warhol | 1963 | 16 May 2007 | Private Collection, Switzerland | Philip Niarchos | Christie's, New York [25] |
| $70.6 | $70.6 (£50) | Diana and Actaeon | Titian | 1556-1559 | 01 Feb 2009 | Duke of Sutherland | National Galleries of Scotland & National Gallery, London | private sale [10] [11] [12] |
| $70.0 | $40.7 | Au Lapin Agile | Pablo Picasso | 1904 | 27 Nov 1989 | daughter of Joan Whitney Payson | Walter H. Annenberg | Sotheby's, New York |
| $69.4 | $38.5 (£20.9) | Acrobate et jeune Arlequin [26] | Pablo Picasso | 1905 | 28 Nov 1988 | heir of Roger Janssen? | Mitsukoshi | Christie's, London |
| $68.1 | $55.0 | Femme aux Bras Croisés | Pablo Picasso | 1902 | 08 Nov 2000 | McCormick family, Chicago | Christie's, New York [27] | |
| $67.2 | $63.5 | Police Gazette | Willem de Kooning | 1955 | 12 Oct 2006 | David Geffen | Steven A. Cohen | private sale, Richard Gray Gallery |
| $64.3 | $48.4 | Le Rêve [28] | Pablo Picasso | 1932 | 10 Nov 1997 | Ganz family | Wolfgang Flöttl [13] | Christie's, New York. |
| $63.5 | $49.6 | Femme assise dans un jardin | Pablo Picasso | 1938 | 10 Nov 1999 | Robert Saidenberg | Sotheby's, New York | |
| $63.1 | $47.5 | Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat | Vincent van Gogh | 1890 | 1997 | Stephen Wynn [29] | private sale via Acquavella Galleries Inc., New York [30] | |
| $60.5 | $35.2 | Portrait of a Halberdier | Pontormo | 1537 | 15 May 1989 | Chauncey Devereaux Stillman | Getty Museum | Christie's, New York |
| $60.4 | $60.0 | Suprematist Composition | Kazimir Malevich | 1916 | 03 Nov 2008 | Artist's heirs | Sotheby's, New York [31] |
Gallery
 A Wheatfield with Cypresses (Van Gogh) (may not be the version sold in 1993) |
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Notes
- ^ Carol Vogel, A Pollock Is Sold, Possibly for a Record Price, New York Times, November 2, 2006
- ^ Carol Vogel, Landmark De Kooning Crowns Collection, New York Times, November 18, 2006
- ^ Carol Vogel, Lauder Pays $135 Million, a Record, for a Klimt Portrait, New York Times, June 19, 2006
- ^ Reportedly, Gachet's portrait was privately resold to a European buyer in 1997 or 1998 for $65-$90 million through Sotheby’s [1] [2]
- ^ This is the small version of the painting; the large version is at Musée d'Orsay.
- ^ Privately resold for ca. $50 million through Sotheby’s in 1997 [3]
- ^ Claire Foy-Smith, Who buys paintings for $104m?, BBC News Online, 6 May 2004
- ^ Lot description and auction details of "Garçon à la pipe" at Sotheby's website.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Kimmelman, Michael: How the MoMA got the Van Gogh, New York Times, 09 October 1989.
- ^ Alan Bond could not pay off the painting, and Irises was resold (probably for somewhat less) to the Getty Museum.
- ^ Marc Spiegler, he Hunt for the Red Collector, New York Magazine, 22 August 2006.
- ^ Lot description and auction details of "Dora Maar au Chat" at Sotheby's website.
- ^ The Pop master's highs and lows, The Economist, 26 November 2009.
- ^ Later in 2002, Thomson donated his private collection, including the Rubens, to the Art Gallery of Ontario [4]
- ^ Wine Spectator Online: Unfiltered (21 May 2008). "Château Pétrus Makes a Record-Breaking Sale—of Art". http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Features/0,1197,4396,00.html.
- ^ Lot description and auction details of "Triptych, 1976" at Sotheby's website.
- ^ Most expensive painting by a living artist
- ^ Annenberg donated it subsequently to the Metropolitan Museum of Art
- ^ Carol Vogel, Inside Art: Buying a Warhol 'Marilyn', [[New York Times, 25 May 2007
- ^ Lot description and auction details of "Le bassin aux nymphéas" at Christie's website
- ^ 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 [5]. Some news articles, probably by mistake, claim that Griffin was the buyer at Sotheby's in 1999 [6].
- ^ Thornton, Sarah; Adam, Georgina (May 4, 2008), "Revealed: $72.8m Rockefeller Rothko has gone to Qatar", The Art Newspaper, http://www.theartnewspaper.com/article.asp?id=7946
- ^ Lot description and auction details of "White Center" at Sotheby's website.
- ^ Lot description and auction details of "Green Car Crash" at Christie's website
- ^ resold for £12m to Stavros Niarchos in 1993
- ^ Lot description and auction details of "Femme aux bras croisés" at Christie's website
- ^ In October 2006, Steve Wynn purportedly agreed to sell Le Rêve to Steven Cohen for $139 million, but Wynn accidentally elbowed a hole in the middle of the canvas, thus scuppering the sale. The sale would have made Le Rêve the most expensive painting at the time.
- ^ 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 [7], though guesses range from $100-150 million. One or both of the paintings may thus occur higher on this list.
- ^ Carol Vogel, A Gauguin and a van Gogh Change Hands, New York Times, Oct 7, 2005
- ^ Lot description and auction details of "Suprematist Composition" at Sotheby's website.
External links
- Crème de la Crème: Most Expensive Paintings
- List of Most expensive Indian Paintings
- Top 100 most expensive paintings (French)
- www.most-famous-paintings.org A website dedicated to the most famous 1000 paintings in the history of art.
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