A painting has no fixed price. Its value is set when a buyer and a seller agree, at auction or in private, and the same work can change hands several times at very different prices. This list collects one hundred of the highest prices paid and puts them on a common footing.
The ranking follows Wikipedia’s list of the most expensive paintings, which adjusts each price for US consumer-price inflation into 2025 dollars. A sale from 1987 can then be compared with one from 2025. The adjustment follows general US prices, not the art market. The nominal price paid at the time is shown beside each entry.
Auction prices and private sales
An auction result is public and recorded by the auction house. Many of the highest prices in this list come from private sales, where the parties rarely publish the figure and the amount usually comes from press reports. Some of those prices are approximate or minimum figures, and the source marks them as such.
Inflation is only one adjustment
Converting old prices into 2025 dollars makes an older sale comparable with recent ones in terms of purchasing power. It does not account for exchange-rate movements or for how much richer the wealthiest collectors have become, both of which affect what a painting can fetch. A different method would produce a different order.
Who painted it still matters
A painting’s price depends heavily on who painted it. The work at number one is attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, but that attribution is disputed, as the source notes. We keep the source’s artist names and qualifications rather than settling such questions ourselves.
What this snapshot shows
Salvator Mundi leads this captured list at approximately US$591.5m in 2025 dollars. The entry at number 100, Femme assise dans un jardin, is approximately US$95.7m. The first ten account for 20.1% of the sum of the hundred adjusted prices. That share is calculated within this list; it is not a share of the art market.
The first ten
Salvator Mundi
Artist and sale: Leonardo da Vinci (attribution disputed), sold in 2017 for US$450.3mn ·
Salvator Mundi shows Christ blessing with his right hand and holding a crystal orb. Heavily overpainted and long thought to be a copy, it was bought at a New Orleans auction in 2005 for $1,175. After restoration, London’s National Gallery showed it as Leonardo da Vinci’s work in 2011–12.
Christie’s sold it in November 2017 for $450.3 million including fees, an auction record for a painting. The buyer was reported to be the Saudi prince Badr bin Abdullah. The attribution is still disputed: some specialists believe Leonardo painted only parts of it.
Interchange
Artist and sale: Willem de Kooning, sold in 2015 for about US$300mn ·
Willem de Kooning completed Interchange in 1955, as his paintings moved away from the female figure towards abstract views of the city. Shortly afterwards the canvas, about two metres tall, was sold for $4,000 to the architect Edgar Kaufmann Jr.
At Sotheby’s in 1989 it fetched $20.7 million, then a record for a living artist. It later passed to David Geffen, whose foundation sold it privately in September 2015 to the hedge fund manager Kenneth C. Griffin for a reported $300 million.
The Card Players
Artist and sale: Paul Cézanne, sold in 2011 for US$250mn or more ·
Paul Cézanne painted five versions of The Card Players in the early 1890s, using local farmhands as models. Some worked on his family’s estate, the Jas de Bouffan. This two-player version shows the men absorbed in their game, with a single bottle between them.
In 2011 the royal family of Qatar bought it privately from the collection of the Greek shipping magnate George Embiricos. The price was not officially disclosed. Reported estimates of $250 million or more made it the most expensive painting sold up to then.
Nafea Faa Ipoipo (When Will You Marry?)
Artist and sale: Paul Gauguin, sold in 2014 for US$210mn ·
Paul Gauguin painted When Will You Marry? in 1892, during his first stay in Tahiti. A young woman in traditional dress sits before a figure in a Western-style dress. Priced at 1,500 francs, it found no buyer at his 1893 Durand-Ruel exhibition.
The collector Rudolf Staechelin bought it in 1917, and it hung on loan at the Kunstmuseum Basel for nearly half a century. The family’s private sale became public in 2015 at a reported price close to $300 million. London’s High Court later put it at $210 million.
Number 17A
Artist and sale: Jackson Pollock, sold in 2015 for about US$200mn ·
Jackson Pollock painted Number 17A in 1948, a year after introducing his drip technique of splashing paint onto a horizontal surface. Painted in oil on fibreboard, it appeared in the August 1949 issue of Life, the feature that made Pollock a celebrity.
In September 2015 the hedge fund manager Kenneth C. Griffin bought it privately from David Geffen’s foundation for a reported $200 million, in the same deal as Willem de Kooning’s Interchange. It was then lent to the Art Institute of Chicago.
Wasserschlangen II
Artist and sale: Gustav Klimt, sold in 2013 for US$183.8mn
Gustav Klimt began Water Serpents II in 1904 and finished it around 1907, closing a series featuring water nymphs. Its owner, Jenny Steiner, fled Vienna in 1938. The Nazis confiscated it and gave it to the film director Gustav Ucicky, whose widow kept it until 2012.
After an agreement with Steiner’s heirs, it was sold that year to the dealer Yves Bouvier. In 2013 he sold it privately to the Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev for more than $180 million. Rybolovlev later accused Bouvier of inflating prices; they settled in 2023.
No. 6 (Violet, Green and Red)
Artist and sale: Mark Rothko, sold in 2014 for US$186mn ·
The Latvian-born American artist Mark Rothko painted No. 6 (Violet, Green and Red) in 1951. Like his other colour field works of the period, it is built from large expanses of colour with soft, uneven edges.
In 2014 the Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev bought it privately through the Swiss dealer Yves Bouvier for €140 million, about $186 million. He later learned that Bouvier had paid around €80 million for it, and the two men settled their wider dispute in 2023.
Pendant portraits of Maerten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit
Artist and sale: Rembrandt, sold in 2016 for US$180mn ·
Rembrandt painted these life-size, full-length portraits of Maerten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit in 1634, marking the young couple’s marriage. Their scale and format are unusual in his work. Always kept together, they belonged to the Rothschild family from 1877.
In February 2016 the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the Louvre in Paris bought the pair jointly for €160 million, each paying half. Under an agreement between the two governments, they stay together and are shown alternately at the two museums.
Les Femmes d'Alger ("Version O")
Artist and sale: Pablo Picasso, sold in 2015 for US$179.4mn ·
Pablo Picasso painted 15 variations on Eugène Delacroix’s The Women of Algiers in their Apartment in 1954 and 1955. He began weeks after the death of his rival Henri Matisse. “Version O” is the last in the series.
Victor and Sally Ganz bought the whole series in 1956. Version O sold at Christie’s in 1997 for $31.9 million. In May 2015 it fetched $179.4 million including fees at Christie’s New York, then an auction record for a painting. The buyer was reported to be Qatar’s former prime minister, Hamad bin Jassim.
Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer
Artist and sale: Gustav Klimt, sold in 2025 for US$236.4mn ·
Gustav Klimt painted this life-size portrait of Elisabeth Lederer, daughter of his patrons August and Serena Lederer, between 1914 and 1916. It was seized in Vienna after the Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938, survived the war and was returned to her brother Erich in 1948.
The American collector Leonard Lauder acquired it in 1985. After his death, Sotheby’s sold it in New York on 18 November 2025 for $236.4 million, a record for a work of modern art at auction.
The ranking continues: 11–100
Wikipedia · ranking and sources
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$235,300,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$231,500,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$223,600,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$219,600,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$216,700,000.00
Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I
Artist and sale: Gustav Klimt, sold in 2006 for US$135mnView record ↗Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$215,600,000.00- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$214,500,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$214,200,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$203,300,000.00
Nu couché (sur le côté gauche)
Artist and sale: Amedeo Modigliani, sold in 2018 for US$157.2mnView record ↗Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$201,600,000.00Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II
Artist and sale: Gustav Klimt, sold in 2016 for US$150mnView record ↗Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$201,200,000.00Three Studies of Lucian Freud
Artist and sale: Francis Bacon, sold in 2013 for US$142.4mnView record ↗Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$196,800,000.00Bal du moulin de la Galette
Artist and sale: Pierre-Auguste Renoir, sold in 1990 for US$78.1mnView record ↗Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$192,500,000.00- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$184,900,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$181,200,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$177,600,000.00
Les Poseuses, Ensemble (Petite version)
Artist and sale: Georges Seurat, sold in 2022 for US$149.2mnView record ↗Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$177,300,000.00- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$168,200,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$165,900,000.00
Reclining Nude With Blue Cushion
Artist and sale: Amedeo Modigliani, sold in 2012 for US$118mnView record ↗Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$165,000,000.00- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$164,000,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$162,400,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$157,200,000.00
Portrait of Joseph Roulin
Artist and sale: Vincent van Gogh, sold in 1989 for US$58mn plus an exchange of worksView record ↗Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$155,800,000.00- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$153,900,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$152,700,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$152,100,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$149,500,000.00
Young Girl with a Flower Basket
Artist and sale: Pablo Picasso, sold in 2018 for US$115mnView record ↗Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$147,400,000.00- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$147,200,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$146,100,000.00
Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster)
Artist and sale: Andy Warhol, sold in 2013 for US$105.4mnView record ↗Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$145,700,000.00- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$145,100,000.00
Portrait de l'artiste sans barbe
Artist and sale: Vincent van Gogh, sold in 1998 for US$71.5mnView record ↗Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$141,200,000.00- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$139,400,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$139,200,000.00
La Montagne Sainte-Victoire vue du bosquet du Château Noir
Artist and sale: Paul Cézanne, sold in 2013 for US$100mnView record ↗Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$138,000,000.00Massacre of the Innocents
Artist and sale: Peter Paul Rubens, sold in 2002 for US$76.7mnView record ↗Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$137,300,000.00- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$129,500,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$129,000,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$128,100,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$127,800,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$127,100,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$127,000,000.00
Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump
Artist and sale: Jean-Michel Basquiat, sold in 2020 for US$100mnView record ↗Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$125,900,000.00- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$125,600,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$124,300,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$124,300,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$124,200,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$124,200,000.00
Femme assise près d’une fenêtre (Marie-Thérèse)
Artist and sale: Pablo Picasso, sold in 2021 for US$103.4mnView record ↗Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$122,900,000.00Portrait of Alfonso d'Avalos with a Page
Artist and sale: Titian, sold in 2003 for US$70mnView record ↗Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$122,500,000.00- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$121,800,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$120,500,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$117,800,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$116,900,000.00
Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)
Artist and sale: David Hockney, sold in 2018 for US$90.3mnView record ↗Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$115,800,000.00- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$114,500,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$114,500,000.00
White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose)
Artist and sale: Mark Rothko, sold in 2007 for US$72.8mnView record ↗Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$113,100,000.00Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers
Artist and sale: Vincent van Gogh, sold in 1987 for US$39.7mnView record ↗Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$112,400,000.00- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$111,800,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$111,400,000.00
Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I)
Artist and sale: Andy Warhol, sold in 2007 for US$71.7mnView record ↗Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$111,400,000.00- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$111,300,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$110,600,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$110,000,000.00
Three Studies for a Portrait of John Edwards
Artist and sale: Francis Bacon, sold in 2014 for US$80.8mnView record ↗Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$109,900,000.00Portrait of a Young Man holding a Roundel
Artist and sale: Sandro Botticelli, sold in 2021 for US$92.2mnView record ↗Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$109,500,000.00- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$109,300,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$108,600,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$107,000,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$106,800,000.00
Triptych Inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus
Artist and sale: Francis Bacon, sold in 2020 for US$84.55mnView record ↗Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$106,500,000.00- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$106,000,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$105,700,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$105,600,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$105,400,000.00
Acrobate et jeune arlequin (Acrobat and Young Harlequin)
Artist and sale: Pablo Picasso, sold in 1988 for US$38.5mnView record ↗Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$104,900,000.00Odalisque couchée aux magnolias
Artist and sale: Henri Matisse, sold in 2018 for US$80.8mnView record ↗Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$103,500,000.00- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$102,800,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$101,800,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$101,400,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$101,000,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$100,600,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$98,400,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$97,200,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$95,800,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$95,800,000.00
- Price paid, adjusted for inflation to 2025 US dollars: US$95,700,000.00
There is always a story.
The highest prices for paintings say as much about wealth at the top of the market as about art. This list records what was paid, adjusted for inflation by its source. It is not a ranking of artistic importance.