This is a list of the highest known prices paid for paintings. The record payment for a work is approximately US $450.3 million (which includes commission) for the work Salvator Mundi (c. 1500) generally considered to be by Leonardo da Vinci, though this is disputed. The painting was sold in November 2017, through the auction house Christie's in New York City.
Background
The most famous paintings, especially old master works created before 1803, are generally owned or held by museums for viewing by patrons. Since museums rarely sell them, they are considered priceless. Guinness World Records lists Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa as having the highest insurance value for a painting. On permanent display at the Louvre in Paris, the Mona Lisa was assessed at US$100 million on 14 December 1962. Taking only inflation into account, the 1962 value would be around US$1 billion in 2024.
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 (£87.9 million in 2024 currency). This sale 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 (£23.7 million in 2024 currency) paid by the J. Paul Getty Museum for Andrea Mantegna's Adoration of the Magi at Christie's in London on 18 April 1985. The sale of Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers was the first time a "modern" (in this case 1888) painting became the record holder. Old master paintings had previously dominated the market. In contrast, there are currently only nine pre-1875 paintings among the listed top 89, and none created between 1635 and 1874.[citation needed]
An exceptional case is graffiti artist David Choe, who accepted payment in shares for painting graffiti art in the headquarters of a fledgling Facebook. His shares were of limited value when he was given them, but by the time of Facebook's IPO they were valued at around $200 million.
The list is incomplete with respect to sales between private parties, as these are not always reported and, even if they are, details like the purchase price may remain secret. For example, on June 25, 2019, the American hedge fund manager J. Tomilson Hill bought a recently rediscovered Judith and Holofernes (1607) attributed to Caravaggio, two days before it would have been auctioned in Toulouse. Though the Louvre Museum had turned down the opportunity to purchase it for €100 million, the painting was estimated to sell for $110 to $170 million. The actual purchase price was not disclosed, because of a confidentiality agreement attached to the private sale. Another example is a 2019 sale of The Seated Zouave by Vincent van Gogh. According to some sources, the painting had been sold by Argentine art collector Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier for $300 million, but the price was not confirmed by any of the parties involved.
Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, and Andy Warhol are the best-represented artists in the list. Whereas Picasso and Warhol became wealthy men, van Gogh is known to have sold only one painting in his lifetime, The Red Vineyard, for 400 French francs (approximately $2,000 in 2018 dollars) in 1890, to the Belgian impressionist painter and heiress Anna Boch.
Georgia O'Keeffe holds the record for the highest price paid for a painting by a woman. On November 20, 2014 at Sotheby's, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art bought her 1932 painting Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 for US $44.4 million (equivalent to US$59 million in 2024).
Among the listed top paintings listed, only seven are by non-Western artists. Five are traditional Chinese paintings by Qi Baishi, Wu Bin, Wang Meng and Xu Yang. In particular, Qi Baishi's Twelve Landscape Screens was sold for $140.8 million in 2017. The only non-Western modern artwork listed is that of the Chinese-French painter Zao Wouki's oil painting Juin-Octobre 1985, which was sold for $65 million in 2018. Also included in this list is Chinese painter Wang Shaofei's The High Sun, which was sold at an estimated price of $74 million in 2017.
List of highest prices paid
This list is ordered by consumer price index inflation-adjusted value (in bold) in millions of United States dollars in 2024. 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 listed only once, i.e., for the highest price sold.
| Adjusted (million USD) | Original (million USD) | Name | Image | Artist | Year | Date of sale | Rank at sale | Seller | Buyer | Auction house |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $577.7 | $450.3 | Salvator Mundi | Leonardo da Vinci (attribution disputed) | c. 1500 | November 15, 2017 | 1 | Dmitry Rybolovlev | Badr bin Abdullah Al Saud | Christie's, New York | |
| ~$398 | ~$300 | Interchange | Willem de Kooning | 1955 | September 2015 | 1 | David Geffen Foundation | Kenneth C. Griffin | Private sale | |
| $349 + | $250 + | The Card Players | Paul Cézanne | 1892/93 | April 2011 | 1 | George Embiricos | State of Qatar | Private sale | |
| $279 | $210 | Nafea Faa Ipoipo (When Will You Marry?) | Paul Gauguin | 1892 | September 2014 | 2 | Rudolf Staechelin heirs | State of Qatar | Private sale | |
| ~$265 | ~$200 | Number 17A | Jackson Pollock | 1948 | September 2015 | 4 | David Geffen Foundation | Kenneth C. Griffin | Private sale | |
| $248.1 | $183.8 | Wasserschlangen II | Gustav Klimt | 1904–1907 | 2013 | 2 | Yves Bouvier | Dmitry Rybolovlev | Private sale | |
| $247 | $186 (€140) | No. 6 (Violet, Green and Red) | Mark Rothko | 1951 | August 2014 | 3 | Cherise Moueix | Dmitry Rybolovlev | Private sale via Yves Bouvier | |
| $239 | $180 (€160 million) | Pendant portraits of Maerten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit | Rembrandt | 1634 | February 1, 2016 | 7 | Éric de Rothschild | Rijksmuseum and Louvre | Private sale | |
| $237.9 | $179.4 | Les Femmes d'Alger ("Version O") | Pablo Picasso | 1955 | May 11, 2015 | 5 | Private collection | Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani[citation needed] | Christie's, New York | |
| $236.3 | $236.3 | Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer | Gustav Klimt | 1914-1916 | November 18, 2025 | 10 | Estate of Leonard Lauder | Sotheby's, New York | ||
| $229.8 | $198 (€175) | The Standard Bearer | Rembrandt | 1636 | February 2022 | 10 | Rothschild family | Rijksmuseum | Private sale | |
| $226.1 | $170.4 | Nu couché | Amedeo Modigliani | 1917/18 | November 9, 2015 | 9 | Laura Mattioli Rossi | Liu Yiqian | Christie's, New York | |
| $218.4 | $140 | No. 5, 1948 | Jackson Pollock | 1948 | November 2, 2006 | 1 | David Geffen | David Martinez | Private sale via Sotheby's | |
| $214.5 | $137.5 | Woman III | Willem de Kooning | 1953 | November 18, 2006 | 2 | David Geffen | Steven A. Cohen | Private sale via Larry Gagosian | |
| $211.7 | $165.0 | Masterpiece | Roy Lichtenstein | 1962 | January 2017 | 12 | Agnes Gund | Steven A. Cohen | Private sale | |
| $210.6 | $135 | Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I | Gustav Klimt | 1907 | June 18, 2006 | 1 | Maria Altmann | Ronald Lauder, Neue Galerie | Private sale via Christie's | |
| $209.5 | $195 | Shot Sage Blue Marilyn | Andy Warhol | 1964 | May 9, 2022 | 11 | Thomas and Doris Ammann | Larry Gagosian | Christie's, New York | |
| $209.2 | $155 | Le Rêve | Pablo Picasso | 1932 | March 26, 2013 | 6 | Steve Wynn | Steven A. Cohen | Private sale | |
| $198.6 | $82.5 | Portrait of Dr. Gachet | Vincent van Gogh | 1890 | May 15, 1990 | 1 | Siegfried Kramarsky heirs | Ryoei Saito | Christie's, New York | |
| $196.8 | $157.2 | Nu couché (sur le côté gauche) | Amedeo Modigliani | 1917 | May 15, 2018 | Ezra and David Nahmad | Sotheby's, New York | |||
| $196.5 | $150 | Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II | Gustav Klimt | 1912 | 2016 | 10 | Oprah Winfrey | Unidentified buyer in China | Private sale via Larry Gagosian | |
| $192.2 | $142.4 | Three Studies of Lucian Freud | Francis Bacon | 1969 | November 12, 2013 | 8 | Elaine Wynn, ex-wife of Steve Wynn | Christie's, New York | ||
| $188 | $78.1 | Bal du moulin de la Galette | Pierre-Auguste Renoir | 1876 | May 17, 1990 | 2 | Betsey Whitney | Ryoei Saito | Sotheby's, New York | |
| $180.6 | $140.8 (¥931.5) | Twelve Landscape Screens | Qi Baishi | 1925 | December 17, 2017 | Beijing Poly Auction | ||||
| $173.4 | $104.2 | Garçon à la pipe | Pablo Picasso | 1905 | May 5, 2004 | 3 | Greentree Foundation (Whitney family) | Guido Barilla (suspected) | Sotheby's, New York | |
| $173.2 | $149.2 | Les Poseuses, Ensemble (Petite version) | Georges Seurat | 1888 | November 9, 2022 | 1 | Paul G. Allen | Christie's, New York | ||
| $164.2 | $119.9 | The Scream | Edvard Munch | 1895 | May 2, 2012 | 8 | Petter Olsen | Leon Black | Sotheby's, New York | |
| $162 | $120 | Otahi | Paul Gauguin | 1893 | 2013 | 10 | Yves Bouvier | Dmitry Rybolovlev | Private sale | |
| $162 | $118 | Reclining Nude With Blue Cushion | Amedeo Modigliani | 1916 | 2012 | 8 | Steven A. Cohen | Dmitry Rybolovlev | Private sale via Yves Bouvier | |
| $160 | $137.7 | La Montagne Sainte-Victoire | Paul Cezanne | 1888-1890 | November 9, 2022 | 2 | Paul G. Allen | Christie's, New York | ||
| $158.6 | $110.0 | Flag | Jasper Johns | 1958 | March 2010 | 7 | Jean-Christophe Castelli | Steven A. Cohen | Private sale, estimated price | |
| $153.5 | $106.5 | Nude, Green Leaves and Bust | Pablo Picasso | 1932 | May 4, 2010 | 9 | Frances Lasker Brody estate | Leonard Blavatnik (suspected) | Christie's, New York | |
| $152.2 | $58 plus exchange of works | Portrait of Joseph Roulin | Vincent van Gogh | 1889 | August 1, 1989 | 1 | Private collection, Zürich | Museum of Modern Art New York | Private sale via Thomas Ammann, Fine Art Zurich | |
| $150.3 | $107.5 | L’Homme assis au verre | Pablo Picasso | 1914 | May 2011 | Yves Bouvier | Dmitry Rybolovlev | Private sale via Yves Bouvier | ||
| $149.2 | $53.9 | Irises | Vincent van Gogh | 1889 | November 11, 1987 | 1 | John Whitney Payson, son of Joan Whitney Payson | Alan Bond | Sotheby's, New York | |
| $148.5 | $95.2 | Dora Maar au Chat | Pablo Picasso | 1941 | May 3, 2006 | 6 | Gidwitz family | Boris Ivanishvili | Sotheby's, New York | |
| $146 | $100.0 | Eight Elvises | Andy Warhol | 1963 | October 2008 | 10 | Annibale Berlingieri | The State of Qatar (suspected) | Private sale via Philippe Ségalot | |
| $144 | $115 | Young Girl with a Flower Basket | Pablo Picasso | 1905 | May 8, 2018 | David and Peggy Rockefeller | The Nahmad family | Christie's, New York | ||
| $143.8 | $139.3 | Femme à la montre | Pablo Picasso | 1932 | November 9, 2023 | Emily Fisher Landau's estate | Anonymous buyer | Sotheby's, New York | ||
| $142.7 + | $105.7 + (¥10,300) | Anna's Light | Barnett Newman | 1968 | October 4, 2013 | DIC Corp. | Private sale | |||
| $142.3 | $105.4 | Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster) | Andy Warhol | 1963 | November 13, 2013 | Sotheby's, New York | ||||
| $141.7 | $110.5 | Untitled | Jean-Michel Basquiat | 1982 | May 18, 2017 | Emily and Jerry Spiegel | Yusaku Maezawa | Sotheby's, New York | ||
| $137.9 | $71.5 | Portrait de l'artiste sans barbe | Vincent van Gogh | 1889 | November 19, 1998 | 5 | Jacques Koerfer heirs | Christie's, New York | ||
| $136.1 | $110.7 | Meules | Claude Monet | 1890 | May 14, 2019 | Hasso Plattner | Sotheby's, New York | |||
| $136 | $117.1 | Verger avec cyprès | Vincent van Gogh | 1888 | November 9, 2022 | 3 | Paul G. Allen | Christie's, New York | ||
| $135 | $100 | La Montagne Sainte-Victoire vue du bosquet du Château Noir | Paul Cézanne | 1904 | 2013 | Edsel and Eleanor Ford House | State of Qatar | Private sale | ||
| $134.1 | $76.7 (£49.5) | Massacre of the Innocents | Peter Paul Rubens | 1611 | July 10, 2002 | 6 | an Austrian family | Kenneth Thomson | Sotheby's, London | |
| $126.5 | $95.4 | Nurse | Roy Lichtenstein | 1964 | November 9, 2015 | Christie's, New York | ||||
| $126 | $86.3 | Triptych, 1976 | Francis Bacon | 1976 | May 14, 2008 | Jean-Pierre Moueix heirs | Roman Abramovich | Sotheby's, New York | ||
| $125.1 | $49.3 (F300) | Les Noces de Pierrette | Pablo Picasso | 1905 | November 30, 1989 | 3 | Fredrik Roos | Tomonori Tsurumaki | Binoche et Godeau Paris | |
| $124.8 | $80.0 | False Start | Jasper Johns | 1959 | October 12, 2006 | 11 | David Geffen | Kenneth C. Griffin | Private sale via Richard Gray | |
| $124.1 | $85 (€54) | Te Fare | Paul Gauguin | 1892 | June 2008 | Yves Bouvier | Dmitry Rybolovlev | Private sale | ||
| $124.1 | $57 | A Wheatfield with Cypresses | Vincent van Gogh | 1889 | May 1993 | 6 | Emil Georg Bührle's son | Walter H. Annenberg | Private sale via Steven Mazoh | |
| $123 | $100 | Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump | Jean-Michel Basquiat | 1982 | 2020 | Peter Brant | Ken Griffin | Private sale | ||
| $122.7 | $105.7 | Maternitè II | Paul Gauguin | 1899 | November 9, 2022 | 4 | Paul G. Allen | Christie's, New York | ||
| $121.4 | $47.8 | Yo, Picasso | Pablo Picasso | 1901 | May 9, 1989 | 2 | Wendell Cherry | Stavros Niarchos | Sotheby's, New York | |
| $121.3 | $104.5 | Birch Forest | Gustav Klimt | 1903 | November 9, 2022 | 5 | Paul G. Allen | Christie's, New York | ||
| $121.3 | $80.0 | Turquoise Marilyn | Andy Warhol | 1964 | May 20, 2007 | Stefan Edlis | Steven A. Cohen | Private sale via Larry Gagosian | ||
| $121.2 | $121.2 | The Empire of Light | René Magritte | 1954 | November 19, 2024 | 1 | Mica Ertegun | Christie's, New York | ||
| $120 | $103.4 | Femme assise près d’une fenêtre (Marie-Thérèse) | Pablo Picasso | 1932 | May 13, 2021 | Christie's, New York | ||||
| $119.7 | $70.0 | Portrait of Alfonso d'Avalos with a Page | Titian | 1533 | November 2003 | 10 | Axa insurance company | Getty Museum | Private sale via Hervé Aaron | |
| $119 | $86.9 | Orange, Red, Yellow | Mark Rothko | 1961 | May 8, 2012 | David Pincus estate | Christie's, New York | |||
| $117.6 | $80.5 (£40.9) | Le Bassin aux Nymphéas | Claude Monet | 1919 | June 24, 2008 | J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller | Andrey Melnichenko | Christie's, London | ||
| $115.1 | $91.9 | Chop Suey | Edward Hopper | 1929 | November 13, 2018 | Barney A. Ebsworth estate | Christie's, New York | |||
| $114.2 | $60.5 | Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier | Paul Cézanne | 1894 | May 10, 1999 | 9 | Whitney Family | Sotheby's, New York | ||
| $113.1 | $90.3 | Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) | David Hockney | 1972 | November 15, 2018 | Pierre Chen | Christie's, New York | |||
| $111.9 | $108.4 (£85.3) | Lady with a Fan | Gustav Klimt | 1917-8 | June 27, 2023 | Patti Wong, on behalf of a Hong Kong buyer | Sotheby's, London | |||
| $111.8 | $84.2 | Black Fire I | Barnett Newman | 1961 | May 13, 2014 | Private Collection | Anonymous | Christie's, New York | ||
| $110.5 | $72.8 | White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose) | Mark Rothko | 1950 | May 15, 2007 | David Rockefeller, Sr. | Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani | Sotheby's, New York | ||
| $109.8 | $39.7 (£24.75) | Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers | Vincent van Gogh | 1889 | March 30, 1987 | 1 | Helen Beatty, daughter-in-law of Chester Beatty | Yasuo Goto, Yasuda Comp./Sompo Holdings | Christie's, London | |
| $109.2 | $88.8 | Buffalo II | Robert Rauschenberg | 1964 | May 15, 2019 | Robert and Beatrice Mayer Estate | Alice Walton | Christie's, New York | ||
| $108.8 | $81.9 | Triple Elvis | Andy Warhol | 1963 | November 12, 2014 | WestSpiel | Christie's, New York | |||
| $108.8 | $71.7 | Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I) | Andy Warhol | 1963 | May 16, 2007 | Private collection, Zürich | Philip Niarchos | Christie's, New York | ||
| $108.7 | $81.9 | No. 10 | Mark Rothko | 1958 | May 13, 2015 | Christie's, New York | ||||
| $108 | $93.1 | In This Case | Jean-Michel Basquiat | 1983 | May 11, 2021 | Giancarlo Giammetti | Private collector | Christie's, New York | ||
| $107.5 | $85.8 | Suprematist Composition | Kazimir Malevich | 1916 | May 15, 2018 | The Nahmad family | Anonymous | Christie's, New York | ||
| $107.3 | $80.8 | Three Studies for a Portrait of John Edwards | Francis Bacon | 1984 | May 13, 2014 | Private Collection | Anonymous | Christie's, New York. | ||
| $107 | $92.2 | Portrait of a Young Man holding a Roundel | Sandro Botticelli | c. 1480 | January 21, 2021 | Sheldon Solow estate | Russian private collector | Sotheby's, New York | ||
| $106.7 | $81.4 | Meule | Claude Monet | 1891 | November 16, 2016 | Christie's, New York | ||||
| $106 | $84.7 | Nymphéas en fleur | Claude Monet | 1914–1917 | May 8, 2018 | David and Peggy Rockefeller | Xin Li-Cohen | Christie's, New York | ||
| ~$105 | ~$75 (€50–60) | Darmstadt Madonna | Hans Holbein | 1526 | July 12, 2011 | Donatus, Landgrave of Hesse | Reinhold Würth | Private sale via Christoph Graf Douglas | ||
| $104.3 | $81.3 | Laboureur dans un champ | Vincent van Gogh | 1889 | November 13, 2017 | Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass estate | Christie's, New York | |||
| $104 | $84.55 | Triptych Inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus | Francis Bacon | 1981 | June 30, 2020 | Hans Rasmus Astrup | Sotheby's, New York | |||
| $103.5 | $70.6 (£50) | Diana and Actaeon |
| Titian | 1556–1559 | February 1, 2009 | Duke of Sutherland | National Galleries of Scotland & National Gallery, London | Private sale | |
| $103.2 | $40.7 | Au Lapin Agile | Pablo Picasso | 1904 | November 27, 1989 | 5 | Linda de Roulet, daughter of Joan Whitney Payson | Walter H. Annenberg | Sotheby's, New York | |
| $103.1 | $68 | The Gross Clinic | Thomas Eakins | 1875 | April 12, 2007 | Thomas Jefferson University | Philadelphia Museum of Art | Private sale | ||
| $102.9 | $75.1 | No 1 (Royal Red and Blue) | Mark Rothko | 1954 | November 13, 2012 | John and Anne Marion | Sotheby's, New York | |||
| $102.5 | $38.5 (£20.9) | Acrobate et jeune arlequin (Acrobat and Young Harlequin) | Pablo Picasso | 1905 | November 28, 1988 | 3 | Roger Janssen heirs? | Mitsukoshi | Christie's, London | |
| $101.1 | $80.8 | Odalisque couchée aux magnolias | Henri Matisse | 1923 | May 8, 2018 | David and Peggy Rockefeller | Xin Li-Cohen | Christie's, New York | ||
| $100.4 | $55.0 | Femme aux Bras Croisés | Pablo Picasso | 1902 | November 8, 2000 | Chauncey McCormick heirs | Christie's, New York | |||
| $99.4 | $69.0 | Nude Sitting on a Divan | Amedeo Modigliani | 1917 | November 2, 2010 | Halit Cıngıllıoglu | Sotheby's, New York | |||
| $99 | $63.5 | Police Gazette | Willem de Kooning | 1955 | October 12, 2006 | David Geffen | Steven A. Cohen | Private sale via Richard Gray. | ||
| $98.6 | $85 | Untitled | Jean-Michel Basquiat | 1982 | May 18, 2022 | Yusaku Maezawa | Taiwanese collector | Philips, New York | ||
| $98.2 | $71.7 (£45) | Diana and Callisto | Titian | 1556–1559 | March 2, 2012 | Duke of Sutherland | National Galleries of Scotland & National Gallery, London | Private sale | ||
| $94.9 | $74 | The High Sun | Wang Shaofei | 2007 | May 2017 | Legal entity of a prominent Japanese collector family | Anonymous (private collection represented by an international institution) | Private sale | ||
| $93.6 | $70.5 | Untitled (New York City) | Cy Twombly | 1968 | November 11, 2015 | Sydney M. Irmas heirs | Christie's, New York | |||
| $93.6 | $77 (¥512.9) | Ten Views Of Lingbi Rock | Wu Bin | 1610 | October 20, 2020 | William Bernard Ziff Jr. heirs | Beijing Poly Auction | |||
| $93.4 | $49.5 | Femme assise dans un jardin | Pablo Picasso | 1938 | November 10, 1999 | Robert Saidenberg | Sotheby's, New York | |||
| $93.2 | $70.2 (£42.2) | Portrait of George Dyer Talking | Francis Bacon | 1966 | February 13, 2014 | Christie's, London | ||||
| $93 | $47.5 | Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat | Vincent van Gogh | 1890 | 1997 | 11 | Steve Wynn | Private sale via Acquavella Galleries Inc., New York | ||
| $92.5 | $69.6 | Untitled | Cy Twombly | 1970 | November 12, 2014 | Nicola del Roscio | Christie's, New York | |||
| $92.5 | $69.6 | Four Marlons | Andy Warhol | 1966 | November 12, 2014 | WestSpiel | Christie's, New York | |||
| $92.2 | $79.45 | The Empire of Lights | René Magritte | 1961 | February 3, 2022 | Anne-Marie Crowet Gillon heirs | Sotheby's, London | |||
| $91.5 | $65.5 (¥425.5) | Eagle Standing on Pine Tree | Qi Baishi | 1946 | May 22, 2011 | Liu Yiqian | Hunan TV & Broadcast Intermediary Co | China Guardian Auctions | ||
| $91.4 | $63.4 | Men in Her Life | Andy Warhol | 1962 | November 8, 2010 | Jose Mugrabi | Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani | Phillips de Pury & Company | ||
| $89.9 | $70.1 | Contraste de formes | Fernand Léger | 1913 | November 13, 2017 | Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation | Christie's, New York | |||
| $89.5 | $67.45 | La Gommeuse | Pablo Picasso | 1901 | November 5, 2015 | William I. Koch | Sotheby's, New York. | |||
| $89.4 | $67.4 | Buste de femme (Femme à la résille) | Pablo Picasso | 1938 | May 11, 2015 | Steve Wynn | Joseph Lau | Christie's, New York | ||
| $89.3 | $35.2 | Portrait of a Halberdier | Pontormo | 1537 | May 31, 1989 | 5 | Chauncey Stillman | Getty Museum | Christie's, New York | |
| $88 | $66.3 | L’Allée des Alyscamps | Vincent van Gogh | 1888 | May 5, 2015 | Sotheby's, New York | ||||
| $88 | $66.2 | Untitled | Mark Rothko | 1952 | May 13, 2014 | Private Collection | Anonymous | Christie's, New York | ||
| $86.9 | $66.3 | Untitled XXV | Willem de Kooning | 1977 | November 15, 2016 | Christie's, New York | ||||
| $86.8 | $62.1 (¥402.5) | Zhichuan Resettlement | Wang Meng | 1350 | June 4, 2011 | Beijing Poly Auction | ||||
| $86.7 | $69.2 | Femme au béret et à la robe quadrillée (Marie-Thérèse Walter) | Pablo Picasso | 1937 | February 28, 2018 | Private collection | Harry Smith | Sotheby's, London | ||
| $86.5 | $65.1 | Spring | Édouard Manet | 1881 | November 5, 2014 | Oliver Hazard Payne heirs | Getty Museum | Christie's, New York | ||
| $86.3 | $68.9 | Woman as Landscape | Willem de Kooning | 1955 | November 13, 2018 | Barney A. Ebsworth estate | Christie's, New York | |||
| $86.2 | $61.7 | 1949-A-No. 1 | Clyfford Still | 1949 | November 9, 2011 | City and County of Denver | Sotheby's, New York | |||
| $85.1 | $82.5 | No. 7 | Mark Rothko | 1951 | February 19, 2023 | Private Collection | Laurence Escalante | Private sale | ||
| $82.8 | $71.4 | Cabanes de bois parmi les oliviers et cyprès | Vincent van Gogh | 1889 | November 11, 2021 | Edwin L. Cox | Christie's, New York | |||
| $81.6 | $70.35 | Le Bassin Aux Nymphéas (1917-19) | Claude Monet | 1917-1919 | May 12, 2021 | Private Collection, New York, United States | Sotheby's, New York | |||
| $81.7 | $65.23 (HK$510.371) | Juin-Octobre 1985 | Zao Wou-Ki | 1985 | September 30, 2018 | Chang Qiu Dun | Sotheby's, Hong Kong |
Progression of highest prices paid
This list shows the progression of the highest price paid for a painting since 1746.
| Price | Painting | Image | Artist | Year | Date of sale | Seller | Buyer | Auction house |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $0.03 million | Magdalen in the Desert | Antonio da Correggio | 1746 | Augustus III of Poland | Private sale | |||
| $0.04 million (110,000 French francs) | Sistine Madonna | Raphael | c. 1513–1514 | 1759 | Piacenza | Augustus III of Poland | Private sale | |
| $0.08 million (£16,000) | Adoration of the Mystic Lamb | Hubert and Jan van Eyck | 1432 | 1821 | Edward Solly | Frederick William III of Prussia | Private sale | |
| $0.12 million (615,300 French francs) | The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables | Bartolomé Esteban Murillo | c. 1678 | 1852 | Jean-de-Dieu Soult | Louvre, Paris | Paris | |
| $0.35 million (£70,000) | Ansidei Madonna | Raphael | 1505–1507 | 1885 | George Spencer-Churchill, 8th Duke of Marlborough | National Gallery, London | Private sale | |
| $0.5 million | Colonna Altarpiece | Raphael | c. 1503-1505 | 1901 | Charles Sedelmeyer | J. P. Morgan | Private sale | |
| $0.51 million | Portrait of Elena Grimaldi Cattaneo | Anthony van Dyck | c. 1623 | 1906 | Knoedler | Peter Arrell Browne Widener | Private sale | |
| $0.51 million | The Mill | Rembrandt | 1645/48 | 1911 | Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 6th Marquess of Lansdowne | Peter Arrell Browne Widener | Private sale | |
| $0.6 million | Small Cowper Madonna | Raphael | c. 1504–1505 | 1913 | Joseph Joel Duveen | Peter Arrell Browne Widener | Private sale | |
| $1.6 million | Benois Madonna | Leonardo da Vinci | c. 1478–1480 | 1914 | Benois family | Nicholas II, Emperor of Russia | Private sale | |
| $2 million | Study of a Young Woman | Johannes Vermeer | c. 1665-1667 | 1959 | Prince d'Arenberg | Charles Wrightsman | Private sale | |
| $2.3 million | Aristotle Contemplating a Bust of Homer | Rembrandt | 1653 | November 15, 1961 | Estate of Mrs Alfred Erickson | Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City | Parke-Bernet, New York | |
| $5-$6 million | Ginevra de' Benci | Leonardo da Vinci | c. 1474–1478 | February 1967 | Franz Joseph II, Prince of Liechtenstein | National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. | Private sale | |
| $5.5 million (£2.3 million) | Portrait of Juan de Pareja | Diego Velázquez | c. 1650 | November 27, 1970 | Jacob Pleydell-Bouverie, 8th Earl of Radnor | Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City | Christie's, London | |
| $6.4 million | Juliet and her Nurse | J. M. W. Turner | 1836 | May 29, 1980 | Trustees of Whitney Museum | María Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat | Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York | |
| $10.0 million (£7.47 million) | Seascape: Folkestone | J. M. W. Turner | c. 1845 | July 5, 1984 | Estate of Kenneth Clark | Unknown | Sotheby's, London | |
| $10.5 million | Adoration of the Magi | Andrea Mantegna | 1462 | April 18, 1985 | Spencer Compton, 7th Marquess of Northampton | J. Paul Getty Museum | Christie's, New York | |
| $39.7 million (£24.75 million) | Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers | Vincent van Gogh | 1889 | March 30, 1987 | Helen Beatty, daughter-in-law of Chester Beatty | Yasuo Goto, Yasuda Comp./Sompo Holdings | Christie's, London | |
| $53.9 million | Irises | Vincent van Gogh | 1889 | November 11, 1987 | John Whitney Payson, son of Joan Whitney Payson | Alan Bond | Sotheby's, New York | |
| $58 million plus exchange of works | Portrait of Joseph Roulin | Vincent van Gogh | 1889 | August 1, 1989 | Private collection, Zürich | Museum of Modern Art New York | Private sale via Thomas Ammann, Fine Art Zurich | |
| $82.5 million | Portrait of Dr. Gachet | Vincent van Gogh | 1890 | May 15, 1990 | Siegfried Kramarsky heirs | Ryoei Saito | Christie's, New York | |
| $104.2 million | Garçon à la pipe | Pablo Picasso | 1905 | May 5, 2004 | Greentree Foundation (Whitney family) | Guido Barilla (suspected) | Sotheby's, New York | |
| $135 million | Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I | Gustav Klimt | 1907 | June 18, 2006 | Maria Altmann | Ronald Lauder, Neue Galerie | Private sale via Christie's | |
| $140 million | No. 5, 1948 | Jackson Pollock | 1948 | November 2, 2006 | David Geffen | David Martinez | Private sale via Sotheby's | |
| $250 million+ | The Card Players | Paul Cézanne | 1892/93 | April 2011 | George Embiricos | State of Qatar | Private sale | |
| ~$300 million | Interchange | Willem de Kooning | 1955 | September 2015 | David Geffen Foundation | Kenneth C. Griffin | Private sale | |
| $450.3 million | Salvator Mundi | Leonardo da Vinci | c. 1500 | November 15, 2017 | Dmitry Rybolovlev | Badr bin Abdullah Al Saud | Christie's, New York |
See also
- Market for artworks
- Destination painting
- The Price of Everything, 2018 documentary on contemporary art valuations
- The Lost Leonardo, 2021 documentary on the 2017 sale of the Salvador Mundi
- List of most expensive artworks by living artists
- List of most expensive books and manuscripts
- List of most expensive cars sold at auction
- List of most expensive non-fungible tokens
- List of most expensive photographs
- List of most expensive sculptures
- List of most expensive watches sold at auction
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