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 tripled 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 paintings of old master like Leonardo da Vinci, El Greco, Francisco Goya, and Caravaggio 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 five most expensive. The current record price was paid for The Card Players by Paul Cezanne, which was sold for more than $250 million in 2011.
Painting | Artist | Year | Original Price (Millions) | Adjusted Price (Millions) |
---|---|---|---|---|
The Card Players | Paul Cezanne | 1892 | $259 | $273 |
No. 5, 1948 | Jackson Pollock | 1948 | $140 | $165 |
Woman III | Willem de Kooning | 1953 | $137.5 | $161.8 |
The Dream | Picasso | 1932 | $155 | $157 |
Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I | Gustav Klimt | 1907 | $135 | $157 |
Portrait of Dr. Gachet | Vincent van Gogh | 1890 | $82.5 | $151.4 |
Three Studies of Lucian Freud | Francis Bacon | 1969 | $142.4 | $144.4 |
Bal du moulin de la Galette | Pierre-Auguste Renoir | 1876 | $78.1 | $143.3 |
Boy with a Pipe | Pablo Picasso | 1905 | $104.2 | $130.6 |
The Scream | Edvard Munch | 1895 | $119.9 | $123.7 |
Flag | Jasper Johns | 1954 | $110.0 | $119.8 |
Portrait of Joseph Roulin | Van Gogh | 1889 | $58 | $112 ++ |
Dora Maar au Chat | Picasso | 1941 | $95.2 | $111.5 |
Irises | Van Gogh | 1889 | $53.9 | $110.7 |
Eight Elvises | Andy Warhol | 1963 | $100.0 | $110.0 |
Anna's Light | Barnett Newman | 1968 | $105.7 | $107.3 |
Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster) | Andy Warhol | 1963 | $105.4 | $107.2 |
Adele Bloch-Bauer II | Gustav Klimt | 1912 | $87.9 | $103.5 |
Self Portrait | Vincent van Gogh | 1889 | $71.5 | $103.4 |
Massacre of the Innocents | Peter Paul Rubens | 1611 | $76.7 | $101.0 |
Triptych, 1976 | Francis Bacon | 1976 | $86.3 | $94.4 |
False Start | Jasper Johns | 1959 | $80.0 | $94.0 |
A Wheatfield with Cypresses | Vincent van Gogh | 1889 | $57 | $93 |
Les Noces de Pierrette | Picasso | 1905 | $49.3 | $92.5 |
Yo, Picasso | Pablo Picasso | 1901 | $47.8 | $91.6 |
Water Lilies | Claude Monet | 1916 | $80.7 | $89.7 |
Turquoise Marilyn | Andy Warhol | 1964 | $80.0 | $90.0 |
Orange, Red, Yellow | Mark Rothko | 1961 | $86.9 | $89.6 |
Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier | Cezanne | 1894 | $60.5 | $80.5 |
Black Fire I | Barnett Newman | 1961 | $84.2 | $84.2 |
Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers | Van Gogh | 1888 | $39.7 | $83.9 |
White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose) | Mark Rothko | 1950 | $72.8 | $82.8 |
Three Studies for a Portrait of John Edwards | Francis Bacon | 1984 | $80.8 | $80.8 |
Diana and Actaeon | Titian | 1556 | $70.6 | $79.6 |
Salvator Mundi | Leonardo da Vinci | 1490 | $75â$80 | $80 |
The Gross Clinic | Thomas Eakins | 1875 | $68 | $78 |
No 1 (Royal Red and Blue) | Mark Rothko | 1954 | $75 | $77 |
Harlequin with Glass | Pablo Picasso | 1904 | $40.7 | $76.7 |
Acrobate et jeune arlequin | Picasso | 1905 | $38.5 | $78.5 |
Femme aux Bras Croisés | Picasso | 1902 | $55 | $74 |
Nude Sitting on a Divan | Amedeo Modigliani | 1917 | $69.0 | $75 |
Police Gazette | Willem de Kooning | 1955 | $63.5 | $75.5 |
Diana and Callisto | Titian | 1556 | $71.7 | $74.7 |
Peasant Woman Against a Background of Wheat | Van Gogh | 1890 | $47.5 | $70.5 |
Seated Woman in a Garden | Pablo Picasso | 1938 | $49.5 | $69.5 |
Eagle Standing on Pine Tree | Qi Baishi | 1946 | $65.5 | $68.5 |
Men in Her Life | Andy Warhol | 1962 | $63.4 | $68.8 |
Portrait of a Halberdier | Pontormo | 1537 | $35.2 | $67.2 |
Suprematist Composition | Kazimir Malevich | 1916 | $60.0 | $67.0 |
Untitled | Mark Rothko | 1952 | $66 | $66.2 |
Zhichuan Resettlement | Wang Meng | 1350 | $62.1 | $65.1 |
Most Famous Gustav Klimt Paintings
The Kiss by Gustav Klimt
Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I by Gustav Klimt
The Tree of Life, Stoclet Frieze by Gustav Klimt
The Sunflower by Gustav Klimt
Death and Life by Gustav Klimt
Beethoven Frieze by Gustav Klimt
Birch Forest by Gustav Klimt
Lady with Fan by Gustav Klimt
Danae by Gustav Klimt
The Three Ages of Woman by Gustav Klimt
Judith and the Head of Holofernes by Gustav Klimt