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We all know art mainly as an aesthetic and cultural experience that is personal to us and impossible to put a price on. Art critics, art collectors and many investors, however, know that fine art is also, among other things, a profitable financial investment. In today’s article, we look at the most expensive paintings in the world, where they are, who owns them and, above all, what they are worth in money.
Table of contents
#10 Pablo Picasso – Women of Algiers (1955)
Women of Algiers is the work of the best-known Cubist painter, Pablo Picasso. It is a series of 15 paintings on the same theme, and the most expensive of them is the last one, known as Version O. The series was originally inspired by a work with a very similar title by the Romantic painter Eugène Delacroix: Women of Algiers in Their Apartment (1834). With this series, Picasso tried to capture his own idea of the Orient.
Version O of this series was sold at auction by the New York auction house Christie’s for 179.4 million dollars, and the painting was bought by the former Qatari prime minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani.
#9 Rembrandt van Rijn – Pendant Portraits of Marten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit (1634)
In 1634, the world-famous Dutch Baroque painter Rembrandt painted portraits of Marten Soolmans and his wife Oopjen Coppit to mark their wedding. Although each portrait is completely individual, they have always been exhibited together since they were created. Both paintings are among the most expensive paintings in the world and have always been treated as a single whole, not only when exhibited but also when sold.
The two paintings were originally owned by the Rothschild family until they decided to sell them in 1877. The Louvre in Paris and the Dutch Rijksmuseum did not hesitate for a minute to buy them, even though the two paintings together cost them 180 million dollars. To this day, the museums take turns exhibiting them, and the two paintings are still always shown together.
#8 Mark Rothko – No. 6 (Violet, Green and Red) (1951)
The Latvian-American painter Mark Rothko created this abstract oil painting in 1951. It shows nothing but large areas of colour bordered by vague, hazy shadows. The painting was sold privately, and the buyer was the Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev. He bought it for 186 million dollars.
#7 Gustav Klimt – Water Serpents II (1907)
Water Serpents II is an unconventional work by the Austrian Symbolist painter Gustav Klimt. This oil painting is the second part of a series that was preceded by Water Serpents I. The painting depicts natural sensuality in the form of female bodies intertwined with each other. The painting has a varied history, as it was stolen and hidden by the Nazis during the Second World War. In 2013, however, it returned to the art world’s attention when its sale price rose to as much as 204 million dollars. Since 2022, you can find the painting in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
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#6 Jackson Pollock – Number 17A (1948)
Jackson Pollock is an Abstract Expressionist painter known above all for the drip-painting technique. This technique is based on splashing or dripping paint directly onto a canvas laid flat, which creates a chaotic structure of colours. The painting Number 17A was created a year after Pollock introduced drip painting to the world. It is currently owned by the investor David Geffen, who bought it for 218 million dollars. However, he has lent the painting to the Art Institute of Chicago, where you can currently see it.
#5 Paul Gauguin – When Will You Marry? (1892)
The story of this painting begins in 1891, when the painter Paul Gauguin travelled to Tahiti, where he fell in love not only with the island but also with several local women. A year later, he painted this Post-Impressionist oil painting of two women sitting in a beautiful natural landscape with golden tones. The painting was sold privately for 229 million dollars. Its owner is not known, but it is believed to have been bought by a wealthy Qatari family.
#4 Paul Cézanne – The Card Players (1892)
The most expensive paintings in the world certainly include The Card Players by the French Post-Impressionist Paul Cézanne. Card games held a certain fascination for Cézanne, and he studied them in truly precise detail. This painting is therefore part of a series of works on the same theme, which includes works with the same composition but with different numbers of people, settings and canvas sizes. Today, the painting is owned by the ruling Qatari dynasty, which bought it for 288 million dollars.
#3 Willem de Kooning – Interchange (1955)
The Dutch-American painter Willem de Kooning is a well-known Abstract Expressionist. His painting Interchange is known in the art world mainly because it shows a change of theme in his work, as he moved naturally from painting women to painting abstract urban scenes. Inspired by Franz Kline, de Kooning began using a technique of quick movements, which is clearly visible in this very work. Critics currently estimate the value of this painting at up to 300 million dollars, which undoubtedly places it among the most expensive paintings in the world. The painting is currently owned by the American investor Kenneth C. Griffin.
#2 Leonardo da Vinci – Salvator Mundi (1500)
We are slowly reaching the top of this ranking, where second place goes to one of the greatest artists of all time: Leonardo da Vinci. Although art critics assumed for many years that Salvator Mundi was only a copy of a da Vinci work, the painting was restored in 2006, and the characteristic features of da Vinci’s technique revealed it to be genuine. The London National Gallery then exhibited the painting for 5 years, and it was later sold at auction, where it was bought for 450 million dollars by a prince of Saudi Arabia.
#1 Leonardo da Vinci – Mona Lisa (1505)
The most expensive painting in the world is Leonardo da Vinci’s best-known work, which is without doubt the Mona Lisa. According to experts, the world-famous lady with the mysterious smile, who has been an integral part of the Louvre gallery in Paris for decades, is priceless. Despite this description, we can still estimate her value in numbers based on the insurance taken out on the work. Taking into account all the inflation since 1962, when the painting was insured, its value today is 860 million dollars.
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