Top 10 Most Expensive Pieces of Art Ever by Sean Donahoe

Do you ever wonder how much that piece of art in your home may be worth? Have you got an original piece of art by a unknown artist or are you lucky enough to have an original piece of art by a popular artist? The art world is often in uproar when a much sought after piece is placed on the market and keen collectors almost fall over themselves to obtain this desirable item for their collections. The following list is the top 10 most expensive pieces of art recorded to date in descending order. Get ready to be amazed.

Note: These prices are take into consideration inflation from the original reported auctions or private sales and is priced in millions USD. This list provides estimated worth's only and is not intended to be an accurate record of art sales. This article is used to illustrate art worth in broad terms.

10. Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II by Gustav Klimt - $89.1 Million
In 1912 Gustav Klimt painted Adele Bloch-Bauer II. Adele Bloch-Bauer was the wife of Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, a rich industrialist of the time, who was a avid sponsor the arts and supported Gustav Klimt's work. Adele Bloch-Bauer was the only model ever to be painted twice by Gustav Klimt. This item was part of a set of two and Adele also appeared in the much more famous "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I".

9. Portrait de l'artiste sans barbe by Vincent van Gogh - $90.1 Million
One of the numerous self portraits Vincent Van Gogh painted, this particular version is the most recognizable and popular. Painted in 1889, this piece created massive waves of interest when it was placed at auction at Christie's, New York. Christie's only estimated this piece would sell for around $20 Million.

8. Dora Maar au Chat by Pablo Picasso - $97 Million
Dora Maar au Chat commonly known as Dora Maar with Cat was painted in 1941 by Pablo Picasso. This wonderful work by Picasso depicts his Croatian mistress, Dora Maar, seated on a chair with a small black cat perched on her shoulders. As was common with his work, he uses wide swaths of contrasting color to draw out the subject.

7. Irises by Vincent Van Gogh - $97.5 Million
Irises is one of the most famous pieces painted by Vincent van Gogh. This piece was one of his early works while he was at the asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France and was painted in the last year before his death in 1890. This item is currently on view at the Getty Museum in California.

6. Garçon à la pipe by Pablo Picasso - $113.4 Million
Currently owned by the John Hay Whitney's estate, it sold for $104.1 million at an auction in Sotheby's in New York City in 2004. Sotheby's estimated originally a pre-sale worth of $70 million. Many of the worlds art experts speculated that the painting's high sale price has much more to do with the artist's name than with the historical importance of the painting itself.

5. Bal au moulin de la Galette, Montmartre by Pierre-Auguste Renoir - $122.8 Million
Commonly known as Le Moulin de la Galette, this wonderful work by the popular French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir was created in 1876 at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. Bal au Moulin de la Galette, Montmartre is a smaller version of an impressionist painting Renoir painted with the same title.

4. Portrait of Dr. Gachet by Vincent van Gogh - $129.7 Million
Once more, Vincent van Gogh appears on our list with one of the most expensive pieces of art of all time. This portrait of Gachet was painted just outside Paris in 1890, and depicts his then doctor, Paul Gachet. Gachet, who took care of Vincent during the artist's last months. Gachet was an hobby artist and became good friends with Van Gogh.

3. Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I by Gustav Klimt - $137.6 Million
The partner to the earlier mentioned work of art. This is the first portrait of Adel Bloch-Bauer Klimt and was created in 1907. According to reports, it was sold in June 2006 for $135 million to Ronald Lauder for his gallery in New York City. At the time this sale occured it set a record as the most expensive painting ever sold.

2. Woman III by Willem de Kooning - $140.2 Million
Abstract expressionist painter Willem de Kooning painted this print in 1953 and this fantastic piece is one of 6 paintings by Kooning in which the central theme was a woman. Woman III was sold by David Geffen in November 2006 to the billionaire Steven A. Cohen for a reported $137.5 Million.

1. No. 5, 1948 by Jackson Pollock - $142.7 Million
At Last, we come to the most expensive art to date, No. 5,1948 by the artist Jackson Pollock. This abstract piece, created in 1948, was created on a 8 x 4 feet sheet of fiberboard, with large amounts of thick brown and yellow paint drizzled on top of it, forming a chaotic nest-like appearance. This work of art was sold by David Geffen in 2006 for $140 Million making it the most expensive work of art ever sold.

So, as you can see, there is some vastly expensive pieces of art in the art industry being sold. I am certain you are asking yourself "What about other pieces of older art?" All of these wonderful pieces of art in this list were created after 1800. Any art prior to this date is usually in the possession of museums throughout the world. The Mona Lisa, for example, was insured in 1962 for approximately $100 Million. Taking into consideration the rate of inflation it is fair to assume that its current worth would be around $670 Million today. However, you are unlikely to ever see this majestic smile in Christie's or Sotheby's anytime soon.

If you have been inspired by these items and would like to see more. Thankfully you do not have to pay anywhere near these prices if you would like a copy of these items on your wall! You can discover wonderful reproductions of each of these items in many sizes, formats and mediums on our Arteblanche.com website. We have one of the world's largest inventories of art from the popular artists in this list to unknown artists and cover every aspect and work of art imaginable. We hope you have found this article informative and as inspiring as we did in writing this.

About the Author

Sean Donahoe is the CEO and founder of ArteBlanche.com, one of the internet's leading art suppliers, which he runs with his wife Tamara. Arteblanche.com has a massive inventory of high-quality art poster prints, fine jacquard weave tapestries and highly-collectible and officially-licensed magazine covers from Rolling Stone Magazine, Time Magazine and Life Magazine.