The 10 Most Expensive (& Controversial) Paintings Ever Sold at Auction
Does the artist make the painting or the painting the artist? Auction houses have been home to scenes of breathtaking displays of wealth, influence, drama, and mystery. As the number of high net worth individuals increases globally, these wealthy multi-million or billionaires are increasingly choosing to invest in rare works of art, with bidding wars rising to unexpected numbers. Here we will dive into some of the most expensive purchases ever seen at auction.
10. Claude Monet “Meules” (1890)
This work of art by one of the most well-known artists ever produced by France was bought and owned by a philanthropic couple who journeyed to Paris in 1892. Shocked silence was followed by a roar of applause that could be heard outside the saleroom in Sotheby’s as it went for an incredible 110.7 million USD in 2019. The buyer of the stunning sunset landscape remains unknown.
9. Pablo Picasso “Young Girl with a Flower Basket” (1905)
The Rockefellers are some of the most famous families in the United States, a part of the super-rich, the unofficial American royalty of yesteryear. They gobbled up this Picasso masterpiece in 1968, eventually deciding to sell a huge swathe of their amassed collection of art in 2018. No one could have expected the outcome that followed, being sold at an incredible 115million USD. As enormous as this sum is, it’s not even the artist’s most expensive painting, coming in at number two.
8. Edvard Munch “The Scream” (1895)
Edvard Munch made four different versions of his most famous painting, three now permanently reside in museums in Norway. The only piece left in private hands turned heads worldwide in 2012. It took only 12 nail-biting minutes to settle on the princely sum of 119.9 million USD and gasps abounded as the sale broke records worldwide. Like other high-value sales, the buyer was, and remains, a mystery…
7. Gustav Klimt “The Woman in Gold” (1907)
Fans of cosmetics will recognize the name Robert Lauder immediately as the incredibly wealthy magnate whose world-famous brand uses his name. Not as many will know that he paid a purported 135 million USD for what is considered to be Klimt’s crowning masterpiece. Although Lauder always refused to state the final selling price, sources close to him alerted the press in the aftermath of the sale in 2006. The painting has a history of controversy, having previously been the subject of a lengthy legal battle between the Austrian government and the niece of the woman depicted in the piece. She argued that it, along with four other Klimt works, were stolen from her family by the Nazis in WWII. The courts agreed.
6. Qi Bashi “12 Landscape Screens” (1925)
Frenetic phone call bids were being cast left right and center, which led to Qi Bashi’s “12 Landscape Screens” breaking the record for not only most expensive painting ever sold for a brief time (2017), but the highest price ever paid for a Chinese work of art at auction - 140.8 million USD. Commentators at the time saw it as a representation of Asia’s increasing influence. The buyer decided to remain anonymous and the painting is not on public display.
5. Francis Bacon “Three Studies of Lucian Freud” (1969)
Irish-born British painter Francis Bacon’s triptych of Lucian Freud was made famous not only due to his reputation, but the fame and international renown of his subject and fellow artist Lucian Freud. Critics view the piece as being symbolic of the relationship between the two contemporaries. In only ten minutes of heated bidding, it knocked the Scream off the top spot at a staggering final price of 142.4 million USD.
4. Van Gogh “Portrait of Doctor Gachet” (1897)
Van Gogh’s most revered work, depicting the doctor who cared for him in his final years, was sold in 1990 to a Japanese businessman for 82.5 million USD. This amount of money for a painting was utterly unprecedented at the time, leaving the world in shock at this incredible display of disposable income. What was even more unsettling was the buyer's declaration to have the piece cremated with him upon his death. It was never confirmed if he followed through with his promise and investigations since, trying to discover the location of the painting, have proved fruitless.
3. Amedeo Modigliani “Nu Couché” (1917)
It’s hard to believe in modern times what a furor surrounded Modigliani’s series of works depicting the naked female body, having been required to retire them due to public outrage on at least two different occasions. What could be considered even more surprising in the modern day is that this particular nude broke not only social but financial barriers, fetching 170.4 million USD at auction in 2015. The buyers were a Chinese couple who chose to display it in their private museum in Shanghai.
2. Pablo Picasso “Les Femmes d’Alger Version O” (1954-55)
The year 2015 was a considerable one for the auction world, with our number two and three spots being sold in the same year. The source of inspiration for this painting was European artist Delacroix, who Picasso admired greatly. Version “O”, the last in the series, was presented for auction in 2015, where it received the highest pre-auction valuation ever at 140 million USD. Unbelievably, the pre-valuation sum was beaten, and the final result was 179.4 million USD, sold to a Qatari former prime minister.
1. Leonardo Da Vinci “Salvator Mundi” (1500)
Last but not least, the most expensive and controversial painting ever sold at auction belongs to Leonardo de Vinci. Of the twenty works of art still existing that are considered to have been done by the master of masters “Salvator Mundi” is the only to remain in a private collection. The unbelievable final price ($450 million) set mouths agape with much speculation on who the potential buyer could have been, until the art world finally spilled the beans about the buyer, pointing a finger towards Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. This painting’s controversy continues to this day, and the unsolved mystery of its authenticity is debated amongst the art community worldwide. This painting is so controversial, Netflix has come out with a documentary about it.
Well, there you have it – the ten most expensive paintings ever sold at auction. We hope to have taught you something, and if you’d like more content like this, sign up for our newsletter at the very bottom of this page.
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