The Top 5 Most Expensive Paintings Ever Sold at Auction

The Number Two Most Expensive Painting Spot Just Got Shattered

Andy Warhol's iconic silkscreen print "Shot Sage Blue Marilyn" just sold for a cool $195 U.S. dollars at a Christie's auction on Monday May 9th, 2022. Art dealer Larry Gagosian was the winning bidder.

One Of The Most Famous Paintings in The World Doesn't Even Make Our List

A mysterious unidentified telephone bidder bought "The Scream" at $119 dollars (later rumoured to be bought by Leon David Black, an American businessman). A significantly higher figure than the starting price at $50 million. The final bid elicited an excitable cheer from the crowd, capping an auction that lasted only 12 minutes. (1.)

Picasso Paintings Command High Prices

"Nude, Green Leaves and Bust" is a 1932 painting by Pablo Picasso that features the artist's mistress, Marie-Thérèse Walter. For almost 60 years, the painting was a staple in the personal collection of art Sidney and Frances Brody. Nude, Green Leaves and Bust is one of the sequence of paintings of Picasso's muse, (Walter) made by Picasso at Boisgeloup, Normandy, in the early months of 1932. It was sold at auction by the Frances Lasker Brody estate for $106 million dollars and nobody knows who bought the painting.

Picasso painted Garçon à la pipe when he was just 24 years old. It was painted during his "rose" period, a period where he painted in brighter more colourful colours. This period only lasted 2 years. It was rumoured to have been bought by Guido Barilla, owner of the Barilla Group, for $104 million.

Dora Maar au Chat by Pablo Picasso was painted in 1941 during the Second World War. The painting depicts Dora Maar, Picasso's lover, sitting in a chair. The painting was painted during his ten year relationship with Dora Maar, which began when Picasso was fifty five years old. The portrait was obtained by Lee and Mary Block, art collectors from Chicago, very shortly after it was painted in 1941 and was sold at auction for $95,216,000 in 2006.

The Real Money Is In Private Sales

Other paintings have fetched higher prices in private sales (not included on this list for verification reasons) such as: The Card Players by Paul Cézanne for $259 million; Le Rêve by Pablo Picasso for $155 million; No. 5, 1948 by Jackson Pollock for $140 million ; Woman III by Willem de Kooning for $135.5 million and Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I by Gustav Klimt for $135 million U.S. dollars.

1. Chakelian. A. “Edvard Munch’s The Scream Sells for a Record $120 Million at Auction.” (2012). Time Magazine. Retrieved May 9th, 2012
2. Michaud, C. "Munch's 'The Scream' sells for record $120 million." (2012). Montreal Gazette. Retrieved May 9th, 2012.