It’s true that in a lot of cases being an artist is a proper kind of gambling. When you decide to pursue a career as a singer, actor, painter, or writer, you either make it big or you struggle through the mud. It’s a harsh reality that aspirants of the creative domain are fully aware of, but that’s never stopped them from pursuing their dreams.
For some people, let’s say, painters when they made it big – they made it really big. While some artists struggle to get financial rewards for their work, there are several painters whose creations have been sold for millions of dollars. Here is the Top 10 Most Expensive Art Ever Sold.
Photo Courtesy of Telegraph
#10 “Three Studies of Lucian Freud” by Francis Bacon
Price: $145 million
When the painting was put up for auction in 2013, there were definitely predictions that it would be purchased for tens of millions of dollars. However, not even experts expected for the price to near almost one hundred and a half million dollars. A total of seven bidders fought over the piece of art which features Bacon’s great friend, the British painter Lucian Freud.
Photo Courtesy of Telegraph
#9 “Portrait of Dr. Gachet” by Vincent van Gogh
Price: $152 million
The famed Van
Gogh painted the doctor that nurtured him in his last months of his life, and it’s probably safe to assume that he didn’t expect for it to make the ruckus it made when it was auctioned in 1990. The piece was purchased on behalf of a Japanese industrialist named Ryoei Saito for an absurd sum which, unfortunately, cost the entrepreneur a death engulfed in debt. After the painting was removed from Saito’s possession, it disappeared into the art market and its whereabouts today remain a mystery.
Photo Courtesy of Telegraph
#8 “Portrait of Adele Block-Bauer I” by Gustav Klimt
Price: $158.4 million
This gold coated painting couldn’t have been more successful not even if the subject was our contemporary Adele. When it was purchased by cosmetics mogul Ronald Lauder in 2006, it broke records for the huge amount of money it was acquired for. The painting is cloaked in an impressive history too, having been confiscated by Nazis in World War II and then reclaimed by its rightful owner only when she turned eighty.
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#7 “Le Réve” by Pablo Picasso
Price: Price: $158.5 million
This Picasso work was initially supposed to be sold by casino magnate Steve Wynn to Steven Cohen, one of the most reputed art collectors on Wall’s Street, in 2006. However, because of his failing eyesight, Wynn accidentally pierced the painting with his elbow. Deal agreements have been postponed until the painting was restored in 2013.
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#6 “Woman III” by Willem de Kooning
Price: $162.4 million
The previously mentioned billionaire Steven Cohen purchased this painting too, taking it from the hands of Dreamworks founder David Geffen for no less than $162 million. The work of art is part of a six-piece set of paintings created by Willem de Kooning, an abstract and expressionist painter.
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#5 “No. 5, 1948” by Jackson Pollock
Price: $165.4 million
The trade of this Pollock piece is a giant mystery. The 8-foot by 4-foot work of art was allegedly purchased by David Martinez from, again, David Geffen. This only remains a supposition, as Martinez’s law firm contradicted this presumption by claiming he never owned the painting.
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#4 “Les Femmes d’Alger (Version O)” by Pablo Picasso
Price: $179.3 million
There have been 15 variations of Picasso’s Les Femmes d’Alger painting, which was inspired by the work of Eugene Delacroix. Version O is considered to be the peak of Picasso’s attempts at this work of art, being deemed as one of the most valuable pieces of the painter, especially in the private hands of art collectors.
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#3 “No. 6 (Violet, Green, and Red)” by Mark Rothko
Price: $186 million
At the time when it was purchased by a Russian billionaire, the American painter’s work set records for its acquisition price. However, today, the same price was the catalyst of a dispute between the buyer and art dealer Yves Bouvier, the former claiming that he was misled about the price.
Photo Courtesy of Telegraph
#2 “The Card Players” by Paul Cézanne
Price: $274 million
The most expensive painting in the world until a while ago, this piece of art was purchased the authorities of Qatar in 2011, in order for it to be exhibited among dozens of other Western works housed inside of its museums. The painting features two stoic looking card players, which have been modeled by the gardener and farm hand working on the estate of Cézanne’s family.
Photo Courtesy of Telegraph
#1 “When Will You Marry” by Paul Gauguin
Price: $300 million
Realized in 1982, this Gauguin painting is currently holding the record for the world’s most expensive piece of art after it had been acquired by Qatar from the hands of a Swiss art collector. The painter created this piece as a result of his trip to Tahiti, a country he fled to while attempting to escape the artificiality and convention of Europe.
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