10 Most Expensive Paintings Around the World

There can be various ways to evaluate art. Since the key to being moved by a particular work can differ between individuals, it is virtually impossible to evaluate art based on an absolute standard. However, there is one criterion that can be recorded in numbers. That is, the ‘money’ someone has paid to own a piece of work. From now on, we will take a look at artworks, especially paintings, that have been traded at high prices and become a hot topic around the world.

Reclining Nude – Amedeo Modigliani

Amedeo Modigliani, an Italian painter who was active in the early 20th century, was a painter who was not recognized much during his lifetime but was recognized posthumously. His works, which were mainly portraits, were even confiscated by the police because his nude paintings were considered to harm public morals. His work ‘Reclining Nude’, which was exhibited in New York in 2015, was bought by art collector Liu Yiqian for about 1.8 trillion KRW (approximately $1.5 billion USD).

Masterpiece – Roy Lichtenstein

Roy Lichtenstein, an American pop artist, is famous for his paintings that seem to have enlarged a scene from a comic and transferred it onto a canvas. He is known as the master of pop art along with Andy Warhol, and many people in Korea are familiar with his ‘Happy Tears’. His work ‘Masterpiece’ came out as an auction item in 2017, and it is said that Steven Cohen, who is known as a big spender in the art world, bought it for about 1.87 trillion KRW (approximately $1.6 billion USD). Masterpiece is known as a work reinterpreted by Roy Lichtenstein from an illustration by cartoonist Ted Galindo.

Portrait of Marten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit – Rembrandt van Rijn

Rembrandt van Rijn, a 17th-century Dutch painter, is known as a representative painter of the Baroque era. He is noted for his style of using ‘chiaroscuro’ to create a strong contrast between the light and dark. His work, which contained the portraits of Marten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit on two separate canvases, was purchased jointly by the Dutch and French governments from the Jewish financial tycoon Rothschild family in 2015 for a price of 192 billion KRW (approximately $162 million USD).

Women of Algiers – Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso, a Spaniard who worked mainly in France, is an artist evaluated as the master of cubism. His ‘Women of Algiers’, which he painted by reinterpreting the work of French romantic painter Eugène Delacroix, was auctioned off in 2015 for about 196.8 billion KRW (approximately $166 million USD). The person who bought the painting is known to be Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, the former prime minister of Qatar, who lives in London.

No.6 – Mark Rothko

Mark Rothko, a Russian-born American painter, is considered a representative artist of abstract expressionism. He is famous for his prints that paint simple rectangles of color on a huge canvas. His works, which feature color in rectangles with indistinct boundaries, are traded at high prices by art collectors. One of his works, known as No.6 from 1951, was purchased by Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev in August 2014 for about 200 billion KRW (approximately $169 million USD).

No.17A – Jackson Pollock

Jackson Pollock, an American abstract expressionist painter, is evaluated as someone who raised the status of American art to its current position. He is famous for his ‘dripping’ technique of dropping industrial paint on a canvas spread out on the floor and is now even called a synonym for contemporary art. His work, which emphasized ‘contingency’, known as ‘No.17A’, was bought by Ken Griffin, the founder of the hedge fund Citadel, for about 210 billion KRW (approximately $178 million USD) in 2015.

When Will You Marry? – Paul Gauguin

Among the works of Paul Gauguin, a French post-impressionist painter, ‘When Will You Marry?’ is considered a work that is not well known to the general public. His work was sold to the Qatar royal family in 2015 for about 220 billion KRW (approximately $186 million USD). The transaction price at the time of sale was reported to be around 320 billion KRW, but later it was revealed by a British art specialist media that the actual transaction price was lower, at 220 billion KRW.

Card Players – Paul Cézanne

Paul Cézanne, a French painter who was active mainly in the late 19th century, is hailed as the father of modern art. His style of pursuing the simplest form of objects had a great influence on modern artists, and because of this tendency, he is also evaluated as the ancestor of 20th-century cubism. ‘Card Players’, a work in which Paul Cézanne attempted to simplify the theme and composition, was sold to the Qatar royal family for 290 billion KRW (approximately $246 million USD) in 2011.

Interchange – Willem de Kooning

Among the works that Ken Griffin, the founder of Citadel, bought are ‘Interchange’ by Willem de Kooning. Willem de Kooning is a Dutch-born painter who mainly worked in the United States and is an abstract expressionist artist. He is known as a representative artist of action painting, like Jackson Pollock, and his work ‘Interchange’ is reported to have been traded at about 320 billion KRW (approximately $271 million USD).

Salvator Mundi – Leonardo da Vinci

‘Salvator Mundi’, a painting by Leonardo da Vinci, is a portrait of Jesus that is estimated to have been painted around the year 1500. This painting, which was sold at an auction, is famous as the highest-priced work in all auctions worldwide. The auction hammer price is reported to be about 532 billion KRW (approximately $450 million USD). Moreover, this work is also the only work by Leonardo da Vinci that is privately owned.

By. Deok Soo Choi