Most Expensive Art Sold at Auctions

Over the last 15 years, prices paid at auction houses for paintings, sculptures and other art have skyrocketed, setting ever-higher bars for the most expensive art sold at auctions.

Owning art has long symbolized wealth and standing and demonstrated a grasp of culture and history. A look into what’s selling shows that these pieces have become more than just cultural artifacts. They serve as financial assets for high-net-worth collectors.

To give you an idea about the investment value of an art collection, here are the 10 most expensive pieces of art sold at auctions.

Quick Look: Most Expensive Art Sold at Auctions

• “Salvator Mundi” by Leonardo da Vinci (c. 1500)
• “Shot Sage Blue Marilyn” by Andy Warhol (1964)
• “Les Femmes d’Alger (Version O)” by Pablo Picasso (1955)
• “Nu Couché” by Amedeo Modigliani (1917-18)
• “Nu Couché (sur le côté gauche)” by Amedeo Modigliani (1917)
• “Models (Small Version)” by Georges Seurat (1888)
• “Three Studies of Lucian Freud” by Francis Bacon (1969)
• “Pointing Man” by Alberto Giacometti (1947)
• “Twelve Screens of Landscapes” by Qi Baishi (1925)
• “Femme à la Montre” by Pablo Picasso (1932)

10 Most Expensive Art Sold at Auctions

The prices collectors have been paying for art at auction have been climbing in recent years. Here is the most expensive art sold at auctions: 

1. “Salvator Mundi” by Leonardo da Vinci

“Salvator Mundi” (Savior of the World) is an oil-on-canvas painting from around 1500 depicting Jesus Christ in a blue robe with a crystal ball in one hand and with the other hand raised. Despite questions about its authenticity and restorations, the famous artwork became the most expensive ever sold at auction when it went for $450.3 million at Christie’s in New York in 2017.

2. “Shot Sage Blue Marilyn” by Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol’s “Shot Sage Blue Marilyn” is one in a series of five that the Pop artist painted of Marilyn Monroe from a publicity photo for the 1953 movie “Niagara.” The works came to be known as “Shot” in 1964 when Dorothy Podber, a performance artist, fired a gun at a stack of Warhol’s paintings. Selling for $195 million at Christie’s New York in 2022, the silkscreen portrait became the most expensive art from the 20th century sold at auction. 

3. “Les Femmes d’Alger” by Pablo Picasso

“Les Femmes d’Alger,” which translates to “Women of Algiers,” was painted in 1955 and is the last piece of a 15-painting series inspired by Eugene Delacroix’s 1834 painting of the same name. Picasso painted the series in response to the nationalist uprising against French colonial rule in Algeria. In 2015, “Les Femmes d’Alger” was the most expensive painting sold at auction at the time, going for $179.4 million at Christie’s New York.

4. “Nu Couché” by Amedeo Modigliani

Known by the translation “Reclining Nude,” Modigliani’s oil painting is part of a series painted between 1916 and 1919. The works are considered revolutionary in their sensuality and boldness in approach to form, causing a scandal in early-20th-century Paris and leading to police shutting down a gallery exhibit of the paintings in 1917. This “Reclining Nude” sold for $170.4 million at Christie’s in New York in 2015.  

5. “Nu Couché (sur le côté gauche)” by Amedeo Modigliani

This 1917 “Reclining Nude (on her left side)” from Modigliani pictures a woman lying on a white bed, looking back over her shoulder toward the viewer. It’s from the same erotic series that caused a societal ruckus in Paris in 1917, leading to the gallery exhibit being closed after just two days. The piece sold for $157.2 million at Sotheby’s in New York in May 2018.

6. “Models (Small Version)” by Georges Seurat

Before 2022, “Models (Small Version)” last sold for $1 million on the market in 1970. However, the 1888 painting of three nude figures in the pointillist style that was Seurat’s signature fetched $149 million at Christie’s of New York in November 2022. “Models (Small Version)” was sold from a collection owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

7. “Three Studies of Lucian Freud” by Francis Bacon

In 2013, Francis Bacon’s “Three Studies of Lucian Freud” stood as the most expensive painting sold at auction for a short time. Christie’s New York sold the 1969 triptych for $142.4 million in November 2013. Each of the three panels of stands six and a half feet tall and shows his fellow artist and friend contorted in three sitting poses. To Bacon’s dismay, the panels were separated for 15 years before being brought together in one collection in 1989.

8. “Pointing Man” by Alberto Giacometti

“Pointing Man” is a 1947 life-size bronze sculpture, standing at more than five and a half feet tall. It is one of six casts from the artist, excluding a proof. A collector held the sculpture for 45 years before it reached the public market. “Pointing Man” became the most expensive sculpture sold at auction, selling at Christie’s New York for $141.3 million in May 2015.

9. “Twelve Screens of Landscapes” by Qi Baishi

Qi Baishi became the first artist from China to sell his work for more than $100 million. His 1925 “Twelve Screens of Landscapes,” showing scenic locations from his travels throughout China, sold at the Poly International Auction Co Ltd. in Beijing for $140.8 million in December 2017. Each panel stands about 70 inches tall. A similar version of panels painted in 1932 resides at the Chongqing Art Museum.

10. “Femme à la Montre” by Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso often painted his mistress, Marie-Thérèse Walter. One of these paintings is 1932’s “Femme à la Montre,” or “Woman with a Watch.” Picasso’s paintings of Walter sell well, including another one from 1932 (“Nude, Green Leaves and Bust”) that sold for $106.5 million. “Femme à la Montre” sold at Sotheby’s in New York for $139.3 million in 2023.

Find Inspiration in the Most Expensive Art Sold at Auctions

As prices climb for the most expensive art sold at auctions, it seems clear that fine art is growing as an alternative investment. Famous artwork can diversify your portfolio and help preserve your wealth. Whether you compete with bids at Christie’s or Sotheby’s or you prefer smaller, online auctions, art can be a valuable investment asset.

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