For centuries, the art world has attracted the planet's wealthiest people, and some will spend a fortune to get their hands on canvases by their favourite painters. Picasso's Femme à la montre became the most expensive painting sold at auction last year when the hammer fell at $139 million (£112m). But that's nothing compared to the prices realised by these famous paintings...
From scandalous portraits to iconic images, read on to discover 21 of the world's most valuable paintings, the mind-blowing sums they've been bought for, and who owns them today. All dollar values in US dollars.
Painted by the French impressionist Pierre-Auguste Renoir in 1876, Bal du moulin de la Galette depicts an afternoon dance at a windmill in Montmartre, Paris. There are two versions of the same artwork, which are almost identical except in size. Between 1879 and 1894, the larger version was owned by the artist Gustave Caillebotte and was seized by the state in lieu of death duties when he died. It's now displayed in the Musée d'Orsay, but the fate of the smaller, more expensive version remains unclear.
In 1990, the painting was bought by the Japanese businessman Ryoei Saito for $78.1 million, the equivalent of $184 million (£148m) today. Saito sparked international outrage when it was suggested that he planned to have the artwork cremated with him when he died, alongside a Van Gogh masterpiece that appears later in our list.
Thankfully, this never happened. Saito, who passed away in 1996, was reportedly forced to sell both paintings after running into financial difficulty. It's thought Bal du moulin de la Galette was purchased by a private Swiss collector, although the precise location of the world's 20th most expensive painting remains a mystery.
This triptych (three-panelled painting) by the British artist Francis Bacon depicts his friend (and rival) Lucian Freud. Painted in 1969, the canvases show Freud sitting on a chair inside a cage and were reportedly based on a series of photographs of the artist. The paintings were sold separately in the 1970s, a move that displeased Bacon; he claimed each of the artworks was "meaningless unless it is united with the other two panels".
The good news is that the triptych was restored and sold as a whole in 2013. It was bought by American billionaire Elaine Wynn, who paid $142.4 million for it at auction house Christie's. The equivalent of $188 million (£152m) today, that's substantially more than the $85 million for which the paintings were expected to sell.
Adele Bloch-Bauer was a close friend of the German artist Gustav Klimt and the only person he ever painted twice. Both of the portraits appear on this list although this one, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II, is generally thought to be less famous than its counterpart. When Adele died in 1925, she left both artworks to the Galerie Belvedere in Vienna, Austria. Following the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938, the paintings were seized and displayed in the Galerie by the German state, which claimed it was following Adele's wishes.
After the war, a lengthy legal battle saw the paintings eventually restored to one of Adele's husband Ferdinand's nieces. She sold Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II to Oprah Winfrey in 2006, who in turn sold it on to an anonymous Chinese buyer for $150 million 10 years later. After inflation, that works out to around $192 million (£155m) in today's money.
Nu couché (sur le côte gauche) was painted by the Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani in 1917. The identity of the model is a mystery – and perhaps for good reason.
When Modigliani displayed the painting in his first and only exhibition in Paris, the explicit artwork scandalised the crowd and the show was promptly shut down by the police on its opening day. It sold for $157.2 million at Sotheby's in New York in 2018, which is around $193 million (£156m) after inflation.
Dr Paul Gachet looked after Vincent Van Gogh in the final months of his life, allowing the Dutch artist to move into his home in the French village of Auvers-sur-Oise. Van Gogh painted two portraits of Gachet in June 1890, but it's this one pictured – the original version – that broke records when Japanese paper magnet Ryoei Saito bought it for $82.5 million a century later. In today's money, that's $194 million (£156m). Then it disappeared, although it was alleged it was sold on to Austrian banker Wolfgang Flöttl.
In recent years, the Städel Galerie in Frankfurt has attempted to track the painting down; the gallery had originally purchased the Portrait of Dr. Gachet in 1911 but it was confiscated and sold by the Nazis during World War II. Sadly, the recent investigation was unsuccessful, and in 2019 the museum displayed the painting's empty frame in lieu of displaying the artwork itself. Like Renoir's Bal du moulin de la Galette, which we featured earlier, it's not known where the portrait currently is.
Gustav Klimt painted Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I in 1907, with the piece commissioned by Adele's husband Ferdinand. After it was eventually returned to the Bloch-Bauer family post-World War II, Ferdinand's niece Maria Altmann sold the artwork for $135 million in 2007, which equates to $200 million (£161m) today.
At the time, this made it the most valuable painting in the world, with a price tag that was $12.7 million (£10m) higher than Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II.
Pablo Picasso's Le Rêve (The Dream) is a painting of the Spanish artist's then-22-year-old mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter. It was painted in 1932, reportedly in just one afternoon. In 2001, the canvas was bought by the Las Vegas real estate developer (and ex-husband of Elaine) Steve Wynn, who was planning to sell it on to hedge fund manager Steve Cohen for $139 million. However, disaster struck when Wynn accidentally put his elbow through the canvas while showing it to his friends, creating a tear about six inches long.
Wynn took the incident as a warning and called off the sale, hanging on to the painting for another seven years. In 2013, Cohen successfully bought it for $155 million, which is the equivalent of $205 million (£165m) today and would have been around $134 million in 2006, when he was originally intending to buy it.
This portrait of Marilyn Monroe is one of the most famous paintings by American pop artist Andy Warhol. Known as the Shot Sage Blue Marilyn because of its distinctive colour scheme – and the fact a woman once fired a pistol at it in Warhol's studio – it's part of a series of paintings that Warhol created of Monroe after her death in 1962. He used a technique called silkscreen printing to create the portrait, which is based on a promotional image from the actor's 1953 film Niagara.
When Swiss art collectors Thomas and Doris Ammann put the painting up for sale last year, experts believed it could sell for $200 million (£160m). It eventually sold at Christie's for a hammer price of $170 million (£137m), with fees bringing its total value to $195 million (£158.1m). Slightly under the $200 million valuation at the time, inflation means the final sale price is now equivalent to $205 million (£165m).
And overvaluation aside, Shot Sage Blue Marilyn has still broken records. Not only is it now the most expensive American artwork sold at auction, it's also become the most expensive piece of 20th-century art in the world when comparing pre-inflation-adjusted figures. American art dealer Larry Gagosian was the winning bidder, according to Bloomberg.
American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein created Masterpiece in 1962. The boldly composed painting features Brad, a hero who Lichtenstein incorporated into a variety of his pieces, and was printed using the Ben Day process – a type of illustration that's made up of dots and textures.
Masterpiece was part of Lichtenstein's first exhibition in Los Angeles in 1963, and its caption is seen as a tongue-in-cheek comment about the artist's own career. The artwork belonged to the American art collector Agnes Gund for years, but in January 2017 she sold it to hedge fund manager Steve Cohen for $165 million. That's $207 million (£167m) today.
Woman III was painted by the Dutch-American artist Willem de Kooning in 1953. It's the third of a series of six paintings, all of which depict an abstract impression of a woman. According to de Kooning's art dealer, he painted the works so vigorously that he sometimes made small holes in the canvas. In the 1970s, Woman III went on display at the Museum of Modern Art in Tehran, Iran. Following the revolution in 1979, however, it was taken off display as it was considered too explicit for public consumption.
In 1994, the painting ended up in the hands of American business magnate David Geffen who, like Agnes Gund, later sold it to Steve Cohen for $137.5 million in 2006. In today's money, that's $210 million (£169m), making it the 12th most expensive painting ever sold.
Painted in 1948, Number 5, 1948 is an abstract artwork by the American painter Jackson Pollock. Famous for his use of drip painting, a technique in which paint is dripped or poured onto the canvas, Pollock created 363 pieces throughout his career. Number 5, 1948 is currently his second most expensive piece of work and was briefly the most valuable painting in the world when it sold for $140 million in 2006. That's the equivalent of $214 million (£172m) today.
The painting's first ever buyer, the artist Alfonso A. Ossorio, paid $1,500 for the fibreboard back in 1949. Baffled by the abstract work, which has been compared to a "dense bird's nest", Ossorio's partner Ted Dragon is reported to have said: "You spent money on that?"
The most famous painting by Gustav Klimt is arguably The Kiss – but it isn’t the most expensive. That honour goes to Wasserschlangen II (Water Serpents II), which he painted between 1904 and 1907, and is the follow-up to his 1904 painting Wasserschlangen I.
Water Serpents II has had a chequered past. Its Jewish owner Jenny Steiner was forced to flee her home in 1938 and, like the other Klimt artworks on this list, the painting was subsequently confiscated by the Nazis. It was then given to the filmmaker Gustav Ucicky, who was coincidentally rumoured to be one of Klimt’s illegitimate children.
The painting was at the centre of scandal again in 2013 when Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier sold it to Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev for $183.3 million when he’d bought it for ‘just’ $112 million. Rybolovlev resold Wasserschlangen II for $170 million in 2015, the equivalent of $221 million (£178m) today.
The second painting by Amedeo Modigliani on this list, Nu couché was painted in 1917. It was part of the same exhibition as Nu couché (sur le côte gauche) and has proved similarly controversial.
In 2015, Nu couché was bought by the Chinese businessman Liu Yiqian, who paid $170,405,000 at auction house Christie’s in New York. Today, that’s the equivalent of $221.2 million (£178.3m).
These companion portraits of Marten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit were painted by Rembrandt to celebrate the couple’s marriage in 1634. The pendant portraits are unusual as they’re full-length – and that’s not their only distinction.
After the Louvre in Paris and Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam clubbed together to buy the portraits for $180 million in 2016 ($231m/£186m today), they also became the most valuable Rembrandt paintings in the world. The museums have promised never to separate the portraits, which now alternate between Paris and Amsterdam.
Les Femmes d’Alger (The Women of Algiers) is a series of paintings and drawings by Pablo Picasso. Created between 1954-55, the artworks were inspired by The Women of Algiers in their Apartment, an 1834 painting by the Romantic artist Eugène Delacroix, who Picasso admired greatly. Picasso also reportedly painted them in tribute to his friend and rival, the artist Henri Matisse, who had passed away shortly beforehand.
Version O (pictured) is the final painting in the series, and so far the most valuable. In 2015, former Qatari prime minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani bought the artwork for $179.4 million, which works out at around $233 million ($188m) in 2022. Although its inflation-adjusted price makes it more valuable than Shot Sage Blue Marilyn, the Warhol painting has beaten Les Femmes d'Algers to the title of the world's most expensive 20th-century artwork based on its cost at the point of sale.
The Latvian-American artist Mark Rothko is known for his bold expressionistic paintings, which commonly feature blocks of different colours.
In 2014, No.6 (Violet, Green and Red) became the most valuable Rothko when Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev paid today's equivalent of $239 million (£193m) to buy it, again from Yves Bouvier. No.6 was painted in 1951 and is currently displayed in a private collection.
Painted in 1948, Number 17A is another abstract work by Jackson Pollock and his most valuable so far. In 2015, American hedge fund billionaire Kenneth Griffin bought it from businessman and producer David Geffen for $200 million, or $260 million (£210m) after inflation.
Nafea Faa Ipoipo (When Will You Marry?) is an 1891 artwork by Paul Gauguin. Painted during Gauguin’s trip to Tahiti, the painting shows two Tahitian women, one of whom wears a flower over her left ear.
Although the French artist has come under fire for his idealised portrayals of the island, the canvases he painted while he was there proved to be hugely influential among Western artists in the 20th century. In 2015, the Qatari royal family is believed to have bought the picture for almost $210 million, the equivalent of $273 million (£220m) today.
When Paul Cézanne’s The Card Players sold privately in 2011, its final selling price wasn’t revealed – but estimates suggest the royal family of Qatar paid $250 million to add the piece to its art collection. Today, that’s the equivalent of $342 million (£276m).
The valuable canvas is one of five that Cézanne painted between 1894 and 1895, with the series also titled The Card Players. The quintet of paintings is considered by many critics to be among the French Post-Impressionist's most significant work.
Also known as Interchanged, Interchange is an abstract oil painting by Willem de Kooning. At the centre of the painting is a pale pink area that represents a seated woman, signalling an ‘interchange’ from the Dutch-American artist's traditional subjects – women, as seen in Woman III – towards abstract landscapes.
Kooning finished the painting in 1955 and sold it that same year for $4,000 (the equivalent of $46k/£37k today). In 2015, hedge fund billionaire Kenneth Griffin didn’t just bag Pollock’s Number 17A – he also bought Interchange for a then-record-breaking $300 million (now $389m/£313m). Griffin has since loaned the painting to the Art Institute of Chicago, where it's currently on display.
The world's most expensive painting is also one of the most controversial. The authenticity of Salvator Mundi (Saviour of the World) has been disputed over the years, but it’s generally accepted that some or all of the artwork was painted by Leonardo da Vinci sometime between 1499 and 1510. Many art critics believed the time-battered painting was actually a copy of the lost original, but after extensive restoration it was displayed in a Leonardo exhibition at the National Gallery in London between 2011-2012.
Like Wasserschlangen II and No.6 (Violet, Green and Red), Salvator Mundi was previously bought by Dmitry Rybolovlev from Yves Bouvier. Rybolovlev sued Bouvier for "buying...works himself for one price and charging [him] another price" and the pair reportedly settled out of court late last year. Now, Rybolovlev is also pursuing legal action against auction house Sotheby's – with which Bouvier made more than 800 transactions from 2005 to 2015 – in connection with his purchases of Wasserschlangen II, Salvator Mundi, and two other works.
And claims of fraud aren't the only controversy plaguing the painting. In 2018, Prince Badr bin Abdullah paid an astonishing $450.3 million – the equivalent of around $552 million (£445m) today – to buy Salvator Mundi at New York auction house Christie’s, making it the most expensive painting ever sold at auction. But where is it now?
When Prince Badr bin Abdullah bought Salvator Mundi, it was announced that the painting would go on display at the Louvre Abu Dhabi in 2018. But the planned exhibition was indefinitely postponed – and the heavily disputed masterpiece hasn’t been seen since.
Some people believe the painting could be hidden in a superyacht (pictured) belonging to Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, while other reports suggest it’s currently being stored in Switzerland.
Now discover the surprisingly valuable old stuff you might have at home