TOP 10 Most Expensive Paintings of All Time

[krazykat-migration]

List of highest prices paid at auction

Garçon à la pipe by Pablo Picasso

Sold for $104.1 million on May 4, 2004 at Sotheby's, New York (time value: $106,910,700.00)

 

Portrait of Dr. Gachet by Vincent van Gogh

Sold for $82.5 million on May 15, 1990 at Christie's, New York (time value: $116,793,226.33) †

 

Bal au moulin de la Galette, Montmartre by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Sold for $78 million on May 17, 1990 at Sotheby's, New York (time value: $110,422,686.71) †

 

Irises by Vincent Van Gogh

Sold for $49 million on November 11, 1987 at Sotheby's, New York (time value: $78,402,796.71).

 

Massacre of the Innocents by Peter Paul Rubens

Sold for £49.5 million ($76.7 million) on July 10, 2002 at Sotheby's, London (time value: $77,927,200.00)

 

Les Noces de Pierrette by Pablo Picasso

Sold for $49 million on November 30, 1989 (time value: $72,697,766.77)

Portrait de l'artiste sans barbe by Vincent Van Gogh

 

Sold for $65 million on November 19, 1998 at Christie's, New York (time value: $71,691,040.02).

 

Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier by Paul Cézanne

Sold for $60.5 million on May 10, 1999 at Sotheby's, New York (later resold at a loss)

 

Femme aux Bras Croisés by Pablo Picasso

Sold for $50 million on November 8, 2000 at Christie's, New York (time value: $52,851,507.20).

 

[Timulty]

Guess, we know which artists are fashionable. Picasso and Van Gough. I am glad there weren't any of thoses pieces of carp by Jackson Pollock. Though, I really thing Cezanne is over rated.

[*paull*]

Who cares?

[rob_react]

Guess, we know which artists are fashionable.

 

After several decades (centuries in the case of Reubens), you'd have to think these guys transcend "fashionable."

 

Anyone know the name of the artist who holds the record for an American artist? No googling!

[spider9698]

Gene would be able to speak more eloquently on the subject than I but there have been no great "Old Master" paintings for sale since they have been locked up in museums and private collections for generations. One could only imagine what a Rembrandt, da Vinci, or Raphael painting would command.

[Timulty]

Winslow Homer or that Grant Guy?

[rob_react]

Gene would be able to speak more eloquently on the subject than I but there have been no great "Old Master" paintings for sale since they have been locked up in museums and private collections for generations. One could only imagine what a Rembrandt, da Vinci, or Raphael painting would command.

 

They don't come up for auction at all and when they do they command incredible prices. A "new" Rembrandt oil study is coming up for sale next year. The estimate is something like $4,000,000.

 

The first Vermeer to sell in 83 years, very much a lesser work by the artist (one of the foremost experts on his work doesn't even attribute it to Vermeer), sold in 2004 for ~ 30,000,000.

[delekkerste]

Guess, we know which artists are fashionable. Picasso and Van Gough. I am glad there weren't any of thoses pieces of carp by Jackson Pollock. Though, I really thing Cezanne is over rated.

 

Cezanne is not my cup of tea either, but he is not overrated. If anything, he is underrated - both chronologically and stylistically, he is the bridge between late 19th century Impressionism and the 20th century modern art that followed, most notably Cubism (Cezanne greatly influenced Picasso and Braque with his pioneering use of geometric patterns in his artwork). I took an art class earlier this year at the Met, and the professor declared that a Cezanne piece where this was clearly evident was the most important piece in the entire museum (though, admittedly, there were plenty of pieces that I liked better).

[Timulty]

I can understand if an artist is a missing link between two significant artistic movements but come on....this guy just kept rehashing the same themes, over and over again. Also, what about Matisse? I thought Matisse has a serious influence on those guys as well.

[delekkerste]

The Old Master paintings do come up for auction, just not very frequently. If you go to Artprice.com, you can see that about 1 Rembrandt a year comes up for auction, for example. Rubens' work is a little more common at auction, with several paintings coming up for sale per year. The awesome "Massacre of the Innocents" by Rubens is on the Top 10 most expensive paintings list (it was purchased by Canadian billionaire Kenneth Thomson). Artprice shows that even 3 Raphael paintings have been offered at auction since 1991, though none since 2000.

 

There are only 30-something Vermeers in existence, almost all of which are owned by museums, so who knows if we'll see another at auction again in our lifetimes. We are blessed in New York that the Met has 4 of them on display. A pilgrimage to the Mauritshuis in The Hague is well worth it to see The Girl with a Pearl Earring and the View of Delft.

[rob_react]

 

There are only 30-something Vermeers in existence, almost all of which are owned by museums, so who knows if we'll see another at auction again in our lifetimes. We are blessed in New York that the Met has 4 of them on display.

 

And three at the Frick

[krazykat-migration]

How many Ditko and Romita covers are known to exist???

[Mushroom]

Why don't you tell us.....you own them all don't you?

[krazykat-migration]

I wish !!!!

 

Nope, I only have a few of 'em

 

KK