The Most Expensive Art in The World

Have you ever considered how much that piece of art in your home may be worth? Do you have an original piece of art by a little know artist or are you lucky enough to have an original piece of art by a popular artist? The art world is often falling over themselves when a popular piece is placed on the market and eager collectors are very quick to bring out their checkbooks in order to obtain this rare art piece for their collections. Here are the top 10 most expensive pieces of art recorded to date in descending order. Prepare to be amazed.

Please note: The prices quoted are take into consideration inflation from the original recorded auctions or private sales and is priced in millions USD. This list provides estimated prices only and is not intended to be an accurate record of art sales. This article is used to illustrate art worth in broad terms.

10. Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II by Gustav Klimt - $89.1 Million
Adele Bloch-Bauer II was painted in 1912 by Gustav Klimt. Adele Bloch-Bauer was the wife of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, a rich industrialist of the time, who was a keen sponsor the arts and supported Gustav Klimt's work. Adele Bloch-Bauer was the only model ever to be painted twice by Gustav Klimt. This item was part of a set of two and Adele also appeared in the much more famous "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I".

9. Portrait de l'artiste sans barbe by Vincent van Gogh - $90.1 Million
One of the many self portraits Vincent Van Gogh created, this particular version is the most recognizable and popular. Painted in 1889, this piece created massive waves of excitement when it was placed at auction at Christie's, New York. Christie's only estimated this piece would sell for around $20 Million.

8. Dora Maar au Chat by Pablo Picasso - $97 Million
Dora Maar au Chat commonly known as Dora Maar with Cat was created in 1941 by Pablo Picasso. This wonderful work by Picasso features his Croatian mistress, Dora Maar, seated on a chair with a small black cat perched on her shoulders. As was often seen with his work, he uses wide swaths of contrasting color to draw out the subject.

7. Irises by Vincent Van Gogh - $97.5 Million
Irises is one of the most widely known pieces painted by Vincent van Gogh. This piece was one of his early works while he was at the asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France and was painted in the last year before his death in 1890. This item is currently on view at the Getty Museum in California.

6. Garçon à la pipe by Pablo Picasso - $113.4 Million
Currently owned by the John Hay Whitney's estate, it sold for $104.1 million at an auction in New York's Sotheby's in 2004. Sotheby's originally estimated a pre-sale price of $70 million. Many of the worlds art experts stated that the painting's high sale price has much more to do with the popularity of the artist than with the historical importance of the painting itself.

5. Bal au moulin de la Galette, Montmartre by Pierre-Auguste Renoir - $122.8 Million
Commonly known as Le Moulin de la Galette, this painting by the famous French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir was painted in 1876 at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. Bal au Moulin de la Galette, Montmartre is a smaller version of an impressionist painting Renoir painted with the same title.

4. Portrait of Dr. Gachet by Vincent van Gogh - $129.7 Million
Once more, Vincent van Gogh appears on our list with one of the most expensive works of art of all time. This portrait of Gachet was created just outside Paris in 1890, and depicts his then doctor, Paul Gachet. Gachet, who took care of Vincent during the artist's last months. Gachet was an amateur artist and formed a good friendship with Van Gogh.

3. Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I by Gustav Klimt - $137.6 Million
The partner to the previously mentioned piece of art. This is the first portrait of Adel Bloch-Bauer Klimt and was painted in 1907. According to reports, it was sold in June 2006 for $135 million to Ronald Lauder for his gallery in New York City. At that time it set a record as the most expensive painting ever sold.

2. Woman III by Willem de Kooning - $140.2 Million
Abstract expressionist painter Willem de Kooning painted this print in 1953 and this fantastic piece is one of 6 paintings by Kooning in which the central theme was a woman. Woman III was sold by David Geffen in November 2006 to the billionaire Steven A. Cohen for a reported $137.5 Million.

1. No. 5, 1948 by Jackson Pollock - $142.7 Million
At Last, we come to the most expensive art to date, No. 5,1948 by the artist Jackson Pollock. This abstract art, painted in 1948, was created on a 8 x 4 feet sheet of fiberboard, with large amounts of thick brown and yellow paint drizzled on top of it, forming a chaotic nest-like appearance. This work of art was sold by David Geffen in 2006 for $140 Million making it the most expensive piece of art ever sold.

So, as you can see, there is some incredibly expensive pieces of art out there being sold. Certainly, you are asking yourself "What about other pieces of older art?" All of these wondrous pieces of art in this list were painted after 1800. Any art prior to this date is usually in the hands of museums throughout the world. The Mona Lisa, for example, was insured in 1962 for approximately $100 Million. Taking into consideration the rate of inflation it is fair to assume that its current worth would be around $670 Million today. However, you are unlikely to ever see this majestic smile in Christie's or Sotheby's anytime soon.

If you have been inspired by these items and would like to see more. Amazingly you do not have to pay anywhere near these prices if you would like a copy of these items on your wall! You can discover wonderful reproductions of each of these items in many sizes, formats and mediums on our Arteblanche.com website. We have one of the world's largest inventories of art from the popular artists in this list to unknown artists and cover every aspect and work of art imaginable. We hope you have found this article informative and as inspiring as we did in writing this.

Sean Donahoe is the CEO and founder of ArteBlanche.com, one of the internet's leading art suppliers, which he runs with his wife Tamara. Arteblanche.com has a massive inventory of high-quality art poster prints, fine jacquard weave tapestries and highly-collectible and officially-licensed magazine covers from Rolling Stone Magazine, Time Magazine and Life Magazine, as well as many older and vintage magazines. From the most popular art and artists to the hard-to-find items, ArteBlanche has it all and it's ready for you now.

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By Sean Donahoe