The most expensive paintings are not necessarily the most famous, and the art market does not always reveal the full details of its largest transactions. This list ranks the highest publicly reported prices paid for individual paintings, using the nominal sale price at the time of each transaction. It includes both public auctions and widely reported private sales. Private-sale figures are sometimes approximate, and auction totals generally include the buyer's premium.

1. Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci

Painted: circa 1500
Sale price: $450.3 million
Sold: Christie's, New York, November 15, 2017

Depicting Christ holding a crystal orb, Salvator Mundi became the most expensive painting ever sold when it was auctioned from the collection of Dmitry Rybolovlev. The work was purchased through Saudi prince Badr bin Abdullah Al Saud. Its attribution to Leonardo remains disputed among scholars, making the record-setting sale one of the most controversial events in recent art-market history.

2. Interchange by Willem de Kooning

Painted: 1955
Sale price: approximately $300 million
Sold: Private sale, September 2015

David Geffen sold Interchange to hedge-fund founder Kenneth C. Griffin as part of a $500 million two-painting deal. The abstract expressionist canvas marked de Kooning's movement away from the recognizable female figure toward a more fragmented urban landscape.

3. The Card Players by Paul Cézanne

Painted: 1892-1893
Sale price: more than $250 million
Sold: Private sale, 2011

One of five paintings in Cézanne's celebrated series of Provençal card players, this version was sold by the family of Greek shipping magnate George Embiricos to the State of Qatar. The quiet, monumental composition helped establish Cézanne as a central bridge between nineteenth-century painting and modern art.

4. Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer by Gustav Klimt

Painted: 1914-1916
Sale price: $236.4 million
Sold: Sotheby's, New York, November 18, 2025

Sold from the collection of Leonard A. Lauder, Klimt's full-length portrait became the most expensive work of modern art ever sold at auction. The painting depicts Elisabeth Lederer, the daughter of important Viennese patrons of Klimt, surrounded by a richly patterned decorative setting.

5. Nafea Faa Ipoipo (When Will You Marry?) by Paul Gauguin

Painted: 1892
Sale price: approximately $210 million
Sold: Private sale, 2014

Gauguin painted this image of two Tahitian women during his first stay in French Polynesia. The work was sold by the heirs of Swiss collector Rudolf Staechelin to the State of Qatar. Its reported price made it one of the largest private art transactions ever disclosed.

6. Number 17A by Jackson Pollock

Painted: 1948
Sale price: approximately $200 million
Sold: Private sale, September 2015

Kenneth C. Griffin acquired Pollock's Number 17A from the David Geffen Foundation alongside de Kooning's Interchange. Created during Pollock's breakthrough drip-painting period, the work was reproduced in a 1949 issue of Life magazine and became closely associated with the artist's rise to international fame.

7. The Standard Bearer by Rembrandt

Painted: 1636
Sale price: €175 million, approximately $198 million at the time
Sold: Private acquisition, completed in 2022

The Dutch state and the Rijksmuseum acquired this ambitious early self-portrait from the Rothschild family. Rembrandt presents himself in the costume of a militia standard bearer, using the figure to demonstrate his command of texture, light, movement, and theatrical character.

8. Shot Sage Blue Marilyn by Andy Warhol

Painted: 1964
Sale price: $195 million
Sold: Christie's, New York, May 9, 2022

Based on a publicity photograph of Marilyn Monroe, the painting belongs to Warhol's famous series of large, square celebrity portraits. Dealer Larry Gagosian placed the winning bid at Christie's. The result set a new auction record for Warhol and, at the time, for any twentieth-century artwork.

9. No. 6 (Violet, Green and Red) by Mark Rothko

Painted: 1951
Sale price: approximately $186 million
Sold: Private sale, 2014

Rothko's large color-field painting was sold privately to Russian collector Dmitry Rybolovlev through dealer Yves Bouvier. The transaction later became part of a major legal dispute over markups and transparency in the private art market.

10. Wasserschlangen II by Gustav Klimt

Painted: 1904-1907
Sale price: approximately $183.8 million
Sold: Private sale, 2013

Also known as Water Serpents II, the painting shows intertwined female figures within an ornamental, dreamlike environment. Its complicated ownership history includes Nazi-era persecution, restitution claims, and a later private transaction between art dealer Yves Bouvier and collector Dmitry Rybolovlev.

Note: Art-market rankings can change when a new sale occurs or when previously confidential private transactions become public. Prices above are not adjusted for inflation.