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The world's most valuable paintings, ranked

Masterpieces that sold for hundreds of millions
Bal du moulin de la Galette: $184 million (£148m)
Three Studies of Lucian Freud: $188 million (£152m)
Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II: $192 million (£155m)
Nu couché (sur le côte gauche): $193 million (£156m)
Portrait of Dr. Gachet: $194 million (£156m)
Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I: $200 million (£161m)
Le Rêve: $205 million (£165m)
Shot Sage Blue Marilyn: $205 million (£165m)
Masterpiece: $207 million (£167m)
Woman III: $210 million (£169m)
Number 5, 1948: $214 million (£172m)
Wasserschlangen II: $221 million (£178m)
Nu couché: $221.2 million (£178.3m)
Portraits of Marten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit: $231 million (£186m)
Les Femmes d’Algers: $233 million (£188m)
No.6 (Violet, Green and Red): $239 million (£193m)
Number 17A: $260 million (£210m)
Nafea Faa Ipoipo: $273 million (£220m)
The Card Players: around $342 million (£276m)
Interchange: $389 million (£313m)
Salvator Mundi: $552 million (£445m)
Salvator Mundi: $552 million (£445m)
13 of 23
Imagno/Getty Images

Wasserschlangen II: $221 million (£178m)

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. 

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Alice Cattley

08 January 2024

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