Top 10 Most Expensive Paintings in the World ([year])

Have you ever stopped to think about which painting is the most expensive in the world? you will be amazed how much the most expensive painting in the world costs. In fact, after reading through, you will see how people appreciate these masterpieces of world painting.

Interestingly, the artists who painted most of the paintings that are enlisted in our list of Top Most Expensive Paintings in the World have passed away. So, journey with us!

Top 10 Most Expensive Paintings in the World

It is incredible how people managed to stroke and paint their imaginations into reality and are admired by people, I mean billionaire rich people!

This brings us to find out the paintings that are the most expensive in the world. we have a preview of the Top Most Expensive Paintings in the World below.

1. Salvator Mundi Painting

Artist: Leonardo da Vinci

Worth: $450.3 Million

Salvator Mundi Painting
Salvator Mundi Painting

Salvator Mundi Painting is a masterpiece work by renowned and one of the most respected artists in the world, Leonardo da Vinci. The name means “The Saviour of the World” because it depicts Jesus Christ holding a crystal orb.

The painting was commissioned around the same period as Mona Lisa by King Louis XII of France in 1605. However, the painting was nowhere to be found between 1763 and 1900, until it was rediscovered by a group of British art dealers in 2005.

The painting was later bought by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman on behalf of the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture & Tourism at a price now making this breathtaking artwork the most expensive painting in the world.

2. Interchange Painting

Artist: Willem de Kooning

Worth: $300 Million

Interchange Painting
Interchange Painting

Interchange Painting by Willem de Kooning, a renowned abstract painter, is the second most expensive painting in the world.

This masterpiece artwork happens to be one of Kooning’s first abstract landscape works. The artwork was bought by Kenneth Griffin, CEO of hedge fund Citadel for US$300 million in 2015 earning it the second spot on our list of Top 10 Most Expensive Paintings in the World.

3. The Card Players

Artist: Paul Cezanne

Worth: $250 Million

The Card Players
The Card Players

The Card Players is the next topmost expensive painting on our list. It is the artwork of French painter, Paul Cezanne and happens to be one of the five paintings included in the French master’s 1890s series bearing the same name.

The painting was bought by the Royal Family of Qatar in 2011, who was reported to have paid double the existing record for any artwork to be sold at auction.

4. Nafea Faa Ipoipo

Artist: Paul Gauguin

Worth: $210 Million

Paul Gauguin is the artist behind the Nafea Faa Ipoipo which he painted during his first trip to Tahiti. The title means “When will You Marry?”.

The painting is among the several paintings he painted of the native woman on the island. The beautiful artwork was reported to have been bought by the Royal family of Qatar.

5. Number 17A

Artist: Jackson Pollock

Worth: $200 Million

Number 17A was painted in 1948 by renowned abstract impressionist, Jackson Pollock, and this was his second piece of artwork.

It is the second abstract painting that made the list after being sold for $200 million to Kenneth Griffin as part of a deal that cost him a total of $500 million.

Griffin is also the owner of Interchange painting, although the art is currently on loan at the Institute of Chicago.

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#6. Violet Green and Red

Artist: Mark Rothko

Worth: $186 Million

Seeing this masterpiece, one would wonder what Mark Rothko, the famous Russian-American abstract impressionist was thinking, but it eventually is the sixth top most expensive painting in the world. The painting is simple and self-explanatory.

7. Pendant portraits of Maerten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit

Artist: Rembrandt

Worth: $180 Million

Taking us further in our discourse on the Top 10 Most Expensive Paintings in the World is the “Pendant portraits of Maerten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit”, painted originally in 1634 to commemorate the wedding of Maerten and Oopjen.

These two paintings have never been separated as they are perpetually hung side by side.

8. Les Femmes D’Alger

Artist: Pablo Picasso

Worth: $179.4 Million

Les Femmes D’Alger painted by world-renowned artist Pablo Picasso comes in as the eighth top most expensive painting in the world.

This unique masterpiece features Algerian concubines in their harem with a hookah used to smoke hashish or opium. It is considered to be the most outstanding in the series painted by the revered artist. Interestingly, the Qatari royal family bought the painting in 2015.

9. Nu Couche

Amedeo Modigliani

Worth: $170.4 Million

Nu Couche is the outstanding masterpiece of all nude paintings made by Modigliani. The artwork features a naked woman on a red sofa.

The art piece was presented to the public in 1917 at his solo exhibition in Paris. The art piece was sold in 2015 to Chinese billionaire, Liu Yiqian

10. ‘Wasserschlangen II’

Artist: Gustav Klimt

Worth: $170 Million

Last on our list is the masterpiece from popular Austrian painter, Gustav Klimt the hand behind the Wasserschlangen which translates to “water serpents”. The oil painting masterpiece from this renowned artist is said to also include some gold leaf elements in the drawing.

More so, the Wasserschlangen II was drawn in the manner of the first version with the same concept of the sensuality of women’s bodies and same-s*x relationships.

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Conclusion

There you have the Top Most Expensive Paintings in the World presently. This goes to show how excellent creativity is rewarded.

Amazingly, despite these paintings being made a long time ago, they still retain their value and authenticity which often catches the attention of onlookers who now have one or more of these masterpieces in their possession.