The most expensive painting ever sold is the
The Mona Lisa is one of the most valuable paintings in the world. It holds the Guinness World Record for the highest known painting insurance valuation in history at US$100 million in 1962, equivalent to $1 billion as of 2023.
The Sotheby's auction for Gustav Klimt's final completed work sparked a 10-minute bidding war that far exceeded its initial $80 million price tag.
Leonardo da Vinci's work has been offered at auction multiple times, with realized prices ranging from 11 USD to 450,312,500 USD, depending on the size and medium of the artwork.
The most expensive painting ever sold is the Salvator Mundi, the Saviour of the World in English, attributed to Leonardo da Vinci.
Known to be attributed to one of the Italian High Renaissance artists Leonardo Da Vinci, the painting is worth $450.3 million and was bought by Prince Badr bin Abdullah Al Saud on 15 November 2017 in an auction by Christie's in New York, setting a new record for the most expensive painting ever sold at public auction.
Once abandoned in a farm shed, a rediscovered Anthony van Dyck painting has sold for over $3 million at auction. The piece is a study for a later painting produced by the Flemish master called "St Jerome." The final painting is currently held by the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam.
The world's largest canvas painting has sold at a Dubai auction for almost 228 million dirham ($62 million), putting it among the most expensive artworks ever to go under the hammer. Measuring over 17,000 square feet, “The Journey of Humanity” is roughly equivalent in size to four NBA-regulation basketball courts.
The highest price for a piece of art by a living artist was for Jasper Johns's 1958 painting Flag. It was sold privately for what is thought to be $110 million USD ($137 million in 2021 dollars).
Van Gogh's rolling night sky full of bright stars is probably one of the world's most famous artworks. The Starry Night's home is at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
The mere fact that it's worth an estimated $100 million is proof enough of its impact on viewers. Many would even go so far as to say that the painting is priceless! My own personal opinion on the art aside, though, let's take a deeper look at The Starry Night and what makes it so special.
The Mona Lisa hangs behind bulletproof glass in a gallery of the Louvre Museum in Paris, where it has been a part of the museum's collection since 1804. It was part of the royal collection before becoming the property of the French people during the Revolution (1787–99).
How much is 'Sunflowers' worth? When Van Gogh's own copy of the original version went on auction at Christie's, as much as 40 million dollars was paid to purchase it. Taking into account inflation, this painting would have cost $100m. It was purchased by Tokyo-based Yasuda insurance company.
Johannes Vermeer's "The Concert'', painted around 1664, was stolen together with Rembrandt's 'Storm on the Sea of Galilee' from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990. Until today it is considered the most valuable stolen artwork in history and has many oil painting reproductions.
1. Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci (1503-1505) Probably the most famous painting in the world is Leonardo da Vinci's La Gioconda, better known as Mona Lisa. This painting is a portrait of Madame Gherardini, personifying the ideal woman of the Renaissance.
Park West Gallery is the world's largest art dealer, bringing the experience of collecting fine art to more than 3 million customers since 1969.
'” At least 45,500 years ago, a human hand had painted the pigs in ochre, making them the oldest known examples of figurative art by at least several thousand years—and, by some standards, the oldest artwork in the world (1).
A 7.166Km long painting prepared by Eritrean youth and displayed across the Asha Golgol — Himbirti road depicting a “Pollution-free World” has set a new Guinness Record title as the world's 'Longest Painting'.
In October of 2021, the anticipated new valuation was tested at Sotheby's Marquee sale in London. A number of bidders were present and wanted their chance for the shredded Banksy painting. After a 10-minute bidding process, the half shredded painting had sold for 18.5 million GBP (25 Million USD).
On May 9 (US time), at the Rockefeller Center in New York, Andy Warhol's Shot Sage Blue Marilyn became the most expensive American artwork ever to sell at auction, selling for about US$195 million ($281m) to an unknown buyer.
A Massachusetts man bought a rare drawing for only $30 at an estate sale two years ago. The drawing is assumed to be an original of German painter Albrecht Dürer . Art experts estimate that the drawing is actually worth close to $50 million.
In 1994, he purchased Leonardo da Vinci's "Codex Leicester," a manuscript that dates back to the 16th century. He paid $30.8 million for the journal at auction, a price that made it the most expensive book ever sold.
Da Vinci was never paid for the painting and it never made it to it's intended client. The woman in the painting is thought to be Lisa Gherandini Giocondo who was about 25 at the time of the painting. Her husband, Francesco del Giocondo was a wealthy cloth merchant in Florence who never received his painting.
It was likely purchased by the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, via a proxy. The painting has not been seen publicly since the sale, and as of 2022 its whereabouts remained unknown.