25 Of the Most Expensive Paintings in the world

Paintings have always been considered the most profound and intellectual of all art forms painters and art connoisseurs are always considered crème de la crème of this post-modernistic world. The value of paintings is based on creativity as well as the personality of the painter in terms of age, experience and their past works, all influencing factors that make a painting commercially valuable. These days, apart from the galleries and museums, it is also the World’s elite who are ready to pay millions for a painting. Here are the 25 most expensive paintings in the world.

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25The Gross Clinic, Thomas Eakins, $ 68 million

This is probably the hardest hitting painting not for the faint hearted. It was sold for the Philadelphia Museum of art for $68 million in 2007. The painting depicts surgeries conducted by Dr. Samuel Gross before medical students at Jefferson Medical College. The surgeries were painted in real time by Thomas Eakins.

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24Acrobat and Young Harlequin, Pablo Picasso, $69.4 million

Among the world’s most expensive paintings, This Pablo Picasso masterpiece was originally priced $38.5 million in 1905. It was first featured in Princeton University in 1923. It was finally sold in 1988 by the heir of Roger Janssen Mitsukoshi for a whopping $69.4 million for public display in America.

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23Au Lapin Agile, Pablo Picasso, $70 million

This Picasso painted in 1904 was sold for a mind-boggling price at a  grand auction at Sotheby’s in by the then owner and daughter of Joan Whitney Payson to Walter.H. Annenberg for a price of $70 million in New York.

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22Diana and Actaeon, Titian, $ 70 million

This grand painting was painted by the Renaissance painter Titian and is considered the finest of his work. Created between 1556 and 1559, it depicts the surreal meeting of the Greek Goddess Diana and Acteaon. This is perhaps one of the few of the paintings that oscillate between the National Galleries of London and Scotland, as they both acquired the artwork from the Bridgewater collection for $70 million making it one of the most expensive paintings in the world at the time.

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21Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I), Andy Warhol, $71.7 million

Postmodernist American artist Andy Warhol’s dystopian artwork depicts burning green cars crashing on top of each other. It was created in 1963 and sold for 73.7 million in an auction at Christie’s, New York.

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20Darmstadt Madonna, Hans Holbein, $ 75 million

This rare gem of an oil painting on wood was created by Swiss-German artist Hans Holbein the younger in 1526. The painting depicts his former deceased wife and his then current wife grouped around the Madonna and infant Jesus.  It was sold in 2011 to German collector Reinhold Wurth for $75 million.

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19Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers, Van Gogh, $74 million

Painted by Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh in 1888, this was the second and perhaps last of his paintings using sunflowers as a subject. The painting was sold by the daughter in law of Chester Betty in 1987 for $74 million. It was originally priced at a modest $39 million.

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18Haystacks, Claude Monet, $81 million

Claude Monet was a struggling artist in Paris when he created this masterpiece in his true impressionist style. Yet he didn’t realize he would become an artist whose works would feature among the world’s most expensive paintings. The painting was sold at an auction in 2016 for in $81 million.

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17A Wheatfield with Cypresses, Van Gogh, $84.1 million

This is one of the wheat field series of Vincent van Gogh; he executed this painting in 1889 at the Saint Paul De Mausole Mental Asylum in Arles France. In 1993 this painting was sold for $84.1 million.

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16Self Portrait, Vincent Van Gogh $93 million

Though he painted almost a dozen self-portraits, unfortunately, this is the only one that survived. Completed in 1886, it is a mirror reflection of the artist himself and was sold for $ 93.5million making it at the time one of the worlds costliest paintings.

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15Massacre of the Innocents, Peter Paul Reubens, $99.7 million

This biblical thematic painting depicting the massacre of innocent babies in the city of Bethlehem by Herod as recorded in the Gospel of Saint Matthew was created by renaissance painter Peter Paul Rubens in 1610. It was auctioned off by Sotheby’s London and purchased by an Austrian family who sold it to Kenneth Thomson for $99.7 million.

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14Irises, Van Gogh, $101.1 million

This 1889 painting by Vincent Van Gogh was sold in Sotheby’s to Alan Bond at an auction in 1987 for a staggering sum of $101.2 million. What makes this painting even special is the fact that it was finished by Van Gogh when he was confined in an asylum in France!

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13Portrait of Joseph Roulin, Van Gogh, $111 million

Yet another painting of Vincent Van Gogh that features as one of the world’s most expensive paintings that left us gaping for all the right reasons. It was a portrait of Joseph Roulin completed in 1889 and was sold for a modest $58 million. It was later auctioned by the Museum of Modern art in New York for a staggering $111million.

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12The Scream, Edward Munch, $ 120 million

A” Nobody” from a far away land of Norway created a tsunami in the world of art and it won’t be wrong in saying the world is still reeling under its effects. Edward Munch was a true Expressionist and his 4th version of the groundbreaking painting was sold for a whopping $120 million to a financier Leon Black 2012!

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11Garçon à la pipe, (boy with a pipe) Picasso, $129 million

Yet another Picasso in the list of the world’s most expensive paintings. The painting depicts a here is Parisian boy holding a pipe which was sold at an auction in 2004 in $129 million.

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10Portrait of Dr. Gachet, Van Gogh, $149.5 million

This masterpiece by the Dutch magician Vincent Van Gogh is one of the, if not the last work of his creation. He depicts his own Doctor Gachet and completed the work in 1890 at Auvers Sur Oise, Paris. It was modestly auctioned off for $82.5 million but its present-day value is estimated at $149.5million making it among the most expensive paintings in the world.

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9Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II, Gustav Klimt, $150 million

The second painting of a Vienna art collector, Adele Bloch-Baur by Gustav Klimt painted in 1912.  Although his first portrait is a tad more famous, this one acquired the distinction of being sold by none other than its owner Oprah Winfrey to an unidentified Chinese buyer in 2016 for $150 million.

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8Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, Gustav Klimt, $155.8 million

This lady in gold as she is also famously known as in the art world was created by Gustav Klimt and sold in 2006 for $155.8million. This was the first painting of Adele Bloch Bauer an art-loving lady from Vienna.

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7Woman III, William de Kooning, $159.8 million

This is the first abstract painting in the list which fetched a high price in the art world. Created by abstract expressionist Willem De Kooning and part of 6 masterpieces created between 1951 and 1953.  Although the painting was sold to Steven Cohen for $137.5 million, today its value $159.8 million.

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6Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette, Renoir, $141.5 million

Among the world’s costliest paintings, The Dance at Le Moulin Dela Galette is a smaller version of the original painting also painted by French impressionist artist Pierre Auguste Renoir in 1876. It was sold by Betsy Whitney to a Japanese businessman Ryoei Saito for $ 78 million in 1990 making it one of two most expensive paintings in the world. Saito again commissioned Sotheby’s who sold it to an anonymous art dealer in Switzerland. Its value is now estimated at $141.5million.

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5No. 5, Jayson Pollock, $162 million

This post modernistic painting created in 1948 by Jayson Pollock was bought at an auction for $140 million in New York City in 2006, but its present net worth is estimated at $162.7 million.

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4Pendant portraits of Maerten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit, Rembrandt, $ 180 million

This is the first Rembrandt in this list which was originally a pair of full-length wedding portraits and owned by none other than the Rothschild family in London. The family then sold it in 2015 to the Louvre and Rijksmuseum for $180 million.

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3When Will You Marry, Paul Gaugin, $300 million

Post-impressionist artist Paul Gauguin created magic with oil in 1892 which was definitely not lost to the world as it was sold by the Rudolf Staechelin Family to Sheikha Al-Mayassa-Bin-Hamad-Al-Thani in 2015 for $210 million making it among the most expensive paintings in the world.

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2The Card Players, Paul Cezanne, $300 million

This masterpiece was created by world-renowned French Post-impressionist artist Paul Cezanne. As one of five images, it was personally added to the collection of the Royal family of Qatar in 2011 who purchased it for $300 million.

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1Salvator Mundi, Leonardo Da Vinci, $450.3 million

This is perhaps the last authentic Leonardo da Vinci painting of Jesus Christ as Salvator Mundi which was initially sold to Russian collector Dmitry Brybolvlev in 2013 for $127 million. It was auctioned again in 2017 by Christie's to Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Farhan for 450.3 making it the world’s most expensive painting.

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