Top 10 most expensive paintings in the world

Price: $170,4 million
Date 1917—1918
Date of sale: 09.11.2015
Where: Christie’s, New York
Seller: Laura Mattioli Rossi

On tenth place among the most expensive paintings of all time – Reclining Nude by the Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani, sold for $ 170.4 million. In a press release at Christie’s auction house, they write that the previous owner bought the painting for $ 26.9 million.

Price: $179,3 млн
Date: 1955
Date of sale: 11.05.2015
Where: Christie’s, New York

“Version O” – one of 15 paintings and drawings from the Algerian women series. To create the picture, Pablo Picasso inspired by the work of the French painter Eugene Delacroix “Algerian women in their chambers.” At the moment, the painting is in the private collection of the Prime Minister of Qatar.

Price: $190 млн
Date: 1634
Date of sale: –.09.2015
Seller: Eric de Rothschild

After the Rothschild family sold the paintings, they moved into joint ownership between the Louvre (Paris) and the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam). Interestingly, pictures were painted separately, but all the time kept together. Portraits also depicted in full-length person.

Price: $197 млн
Date: 1951
Date of sale: –.08.2013
Seller: Christian Moueix

The Russian billionaire Rybolovlev in 2014 bought painting No. 6 (Violet, Green and Red) for $ 197 million from the owners of the prestigious wine estate Château Pétrus. The painting was sold through Yves Bouvier, who paid Moueix just € 80 million before selling the piece to Rybolovlev for € 140 million.

Price: $197.7 млн
Date: 1904-07
Date of sale: 2013
Seller: Yves Bouvier

The painting by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt Water Serpents II (Water Snake II) also belongs to Rybolovlev. He bought the art from Willow Bouvier for $ 197.7 million.

Price: ~$200 млн
Date: 1948
Date of sale: –.09.2015
Seller: David Geffen

This picture is an excellent example of the beginning of Pollock’s distinctive style, for which he received the nickname “Jack Dripper.” Also, the art illustrated in a 1949 LIFE magazine in an article about Jackson Pollock titled “Is he the greatest living artist in the US?”

Price: $210 – 300 млн
Date: 1892
Date of sale: –.09.2014

The picture painted in 1892 during the stay of Paul Gauguin in Tahiti, where the artist found himself a 13-year-old wife – Tehaaman. Tehaaman was also depicted in many other works by the artist.

For half a century, the painting was in the Art Museum of Basel until the Qatari museum department bought it.

Price: $278 млн
Date: 1896
Date of sale: –.09.2015
Seller: David Geffen

In 2012 Greek billionaire sold one picture from Paul Cézanne’s Players of Cards series for $ 250 million (equivalent to $ 278 million in 2019). The buyer was the family of the Emir of Qatar. At the time of purchase, the painting was the most expensive in the world.

Price: $317 млн
Date: 1955
Date of sale: –.09.2015
Seller: David Geffen

The painting was the beginning of a new style of the artist, inspired by the works of Franz Klein. Immediately after completing the picture, he sold it to architect Edgar Kaufmann for $ 4,000 (equivalent to $ 38,500 in 2019). Today, the painting is owned by Kenneth Griffin. However, at the moment, the picture the painting is leased to the Chicago Institute of Art.

Price: $450,3 млн
Date: 1499
Date of sale: 15.11.2017
Where: Christie’s, New York
Seller: Dmitry Rybolovlev

Leonardo da Vinci’s Savior of the World sold for $ 450.3 million (the auction commission was $ 50 million). Therefore, it became the most expensive work of art in history. In 2019, the picture disappeared from the branch of the Louvre in the United Arab Emirates. Later it became known that the artwork stored on the yacht of the Prince of Saudi Arabia. The painting will be on a ship until a cultural centre is built in the region of El-Ula.