Whether sold at auction or through private transactions, works by major painters have fetched record prices in recent years. Buyers range from billionaire collectors seeking trophy pieces for their homes to investors focused on resale gains, and institutions hoping that a Picasso or Warhol will draw visitors.
This list covers the most expensive paintings ever sold, not necessarily the most valuable artworks in the world. Some pieces, like the Mona Lisa, are effectively priceless and not meaningfully priced on the market.
Paintings are ranked by the sale price in U.S. dollars at the time of sale. Adjusting for inflation would shift a few positions, but the overall order would remain similar, with the top five unchanged.
25. Nude, Green Leaves and Bust
pablopicasso.org
Artist: Pablo Picasso
Year sold: 2010
Price: $106.5 million (auction)
At over five feet tall, this striking portrait of Marie-Thérèse Walter was saved from potential wartime loss when Picasso’s dealer Paul Rosenberg shipped it to New York before World War II. Its current owner, Sir Leonard Blavatnik, has on long-term loan to London’s Tate Modern.
24. Flag
MoMA
Artist: Jasper Johns
Year sold: 2010
Price: $110 million (estimated, private sale)
Johns’ encaustic depiction of the American flag—made with colored beeswax over collaged newspaper—became the highest price paid for a living artist’s painting at the time. The 1958 version was acquired by collector Steven A. Cohen; an earlier 1954 version is in New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
23. Untitled
Instagram / yusaku2020
Artist: Jean-Michel Basquiat
Year sold: 2017
Price: $110.5 million (auction)
Basquiat’s 1982 oil-stick and spray-paint work of a skull set a record for the most expensive artwork created after 1980. Bought by Japanese collector Yusaku Maezawa, it helped cement Basquiat’s legacy as a major influence on contemporary art.
22. Young Girl With a Flower Basket
Wikipedia
Artist: Pablo Picasso
Year sold: 2018
Price: $115 million (auction)
Painted during Picasso’s 1905 Rose Period, this work was long owned by Gertrude Stein before entering the Rockefeller collection. It sold as part of David Rockefeller’s estate auction and was later acquired by the Nahmad family, who loaned it to Paris’s Musée d’Orsay.
21. Reclining Nude With Blue Cushion
WikiArt
Artist: Amedeo Modigliani
Year sold: 2012
Price: $118 million (private sale)
One of Modigliani’s celebrated nude series, this 1917 painting reflects the artist’s elegant, elongated figures. Modigliani’s turbulent life and early death at 35 contrast sharply with the high prices his work now commands.
20. The Scream
ArtsCash
Artist: Edvard Munch
Year sold: 2012
Price: $119.9 million (auction)
Munch created several versions of The Scream. This pastel-on-board 1895 version, complete with Munch’s own poem inscribed on the frame, was purchased by Leon Black and remains one of art history’s most recognizable images.
19. Otahi (Alone)
Portland Art Museum / Otahi
Artist: Paul Gauguin
Year sold: 2013
Price: $120 million (private sale)
One of Gauguin’s Tahitian scenes, this 1893 painting was bought by Dmitry Rybolovlev. He later resold it at a substantial loss, a reminder that high-profile art purchases are not always profitable.
18. Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I
Wikipedia
Artist: Gustav Klimt
Year sold: 2006
Price: $135 million (private sale)
Known as “The Lady in Gold,” Klimt’s 1907 portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer exemplifies his Golden Phase. The painting is on permanent display at New York’s Neue Galerie, owned by Ronald Lauder.
17. Woman III
Wikipedia
Artist: Willem de Kooning
Year sold: 2006
Price: $137.5 million (private sale)
Painted in the early 1950s, Woman III is part of de Kooning’s influential series of female figures. It passed from Iran’s Tehran Museum to private collectors before being acquired by Steven A. Cohen.
16. No. 5, 1948
jackson-pollock.org
Artist: Jackson Pollock
Year sold: 2006
Price: $140 million (private sale)
This 1948 drip painting, rich in chaotic layers of color, exemplifies Pollock’s groundbreaking approach. The work sold to an anonymous buyer and remains a defining example of Abstract Expressionism.
15. Three Studies of Lucian Freud
The Art Stack
Artist: Francis Bacon
Year sold: 2013
Price: $142.4 million (auction)
Bacon’s 1969 triptych of his friend and rival Lucian Freud is intense and unsettling. Sold at Christie’s New York, it once set an auction record and remains one of Bacon’s most famous works.
14. Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II
Wikipedia
Artist: Gustav Klimt
Year sold: 2016
Price: $150 million (private sale)
Klimt’s 1912 portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer is a vivid counterpart to his earlier Golden Phase piece. Both works were looted during World War II, later returned to the family, and sold by the estate. This second portrait was at one point owned by Oprah Winfrey before it went to a private buyer in China.
13. Le Rêve (The Dream)
Wikipedia
Artist: Pablo Picasso
Year sold: 2013
Price: $155 million (private sale)
Picasso’s 1932 portrait of Marie-Thérèse Walter is an erotic, dreamlike image. In 2006 a damaged tear by owner Steve Wynn briefly derailed a sale; the painting was repaired and later acquired by Steven A. Cohen.
12. Nu Couché (Sur Le Côté Gauche)
Wikimedia Commons
Artist: Amedeo Modigliani
Year sold: 2018
Price: $157.2 million (auction)
This larger-than-usual 1917 Modigliani reclining nude set a Sotheby’s record when it sold to an anonymous buyer. It includes the full figure from head to toe, rare among the artist’s nudes.
11. Masterpiece
Wikipedia
Artist: Roy Lichtenstein
Year sold: 2017
Price: $165 million (private sale)
Lichtenstein’s 1962 pop-art piece, inspired by comic-book imagery, remains one of his iconic works. It was acquired by collector Steven A. Cohen in a private sale.
10. Nu Couché (Reclining Nude)
Wikipedia
Artist: Amedeo Modigliani
Year sold: 2015
Price: $170.4 million (auction)
Modigliani’s most famous nude caused an uproar at its 1917 Paris debut and was shut down for obscenity. In 2015 it sold at Christie’s for a record price to Chinese billionaire Liu Yiqian.
9. Les Femmes d’ Alger (Version O)
Wikipedia
Artist: Pablo Picasso
Year sold: 2015
Price: $179.4 million (auction)
This vibrant 1954–55 cubist tribute from Picasso’s “Les Femmes d’Alger” series sold at Christie’s New York. The buyer was Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani of Qatar.
8. Pendant Portraits of Maerten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit
Wikipedia
Artist: Rembrandt van Rijn
Year sold: 2015
Price: $180 million (private sale)
These paired 1634 wedding portraits were jointly purchased by the Louvre and the Rijksmuseum, which agreed that the works must be exhibited together and will rotate between the two institutions.
7. Wasserschlangen II
Wikimedia
Artist: Gustav Klimt
Year sold: 2012
Price: $183.8 million (private sale)
From Klimt’s Golden Phase, this 1904 composition of entwined figures is notable for its use of gold leaf. It became part of a controversial set of high-value transactions involving collector Dmitry Rybolovlev and dealer Yves Bouvier.
6. No. 6 (Violet, Green and Red)
TheNerveAfrica
Artist: Mark Rothko
Year sold: 2014
Price: $186 million (private sale)
Rothko’s color-field multiforms are central to Abstract Expressionism. This work was another high-value purchase in the broader series of transactions tied to the same collector-dealer controversy mentioned above.
5. Number 17A
Artist: Jackson Pollock
Year sold: 2015
Price: $200 million (private sale)
David Geffen sold this 1948 drip painting to Kenneth C. Griffin as part of a large private sale. Pollock’s technique remains a lightning rod for debate but is also widely celebrated as transformative for 20th-century American art.
4. Nafea Faa Ipoipo
Wikipedia
Artist: Paul Gauguin
Year sold: 2014
Price: $210 million (private sale)
Gauguin’s 1892 Tahitian scene, titled “When Will You Marry?”, was purchased by Sheikha Al-Mayassa of Qatar for more than $200 million, making it one of the most expensive works ever sold.
3. The Card Players
Wikipedia
Artist: Paul Cézanne
Year sold: 2011
Price: estimated $250–$300 million (private sale)
Part of Cézanne’s 1890s series, this painting of Provencal peasants at a card table was purchased by the Royal Family of Qatar. Several other versions of The Card Players are held by major museums worldwide.
2. Interchange
Artist: Willem de Kooning
Year sold: 2015
Price: $300 million (private sale)
De Kooning’s 1955 abstract-expressionist work was sold by the David Geffen Foundation to Kenneth C. Griffin as part of a package that included Pollock’s Number 17A. The painting has been displayed on loan at the Art Institute of Chicago.
1. Salvator Mundi
Wikimedia
Artist: Leonardo da Vinci
Year sold: 2017
Price: $450.3 million (auction)
This circa-1500 depiction of Christ as Savior of the World became the most expensive painting ever sold when it fetched $450.3 million at Christie’s New York. At the time it was one of the few da Vinci works in private hands. The buyer was reported to be a Saudi royal acting for the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism. The painting’s current public location is unclear.