14 Most Expensive Paintings in the World (2026 Update)

As of October 2026, the most expensive painting ever sold is Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, which fetched $450.3 million at Christie’s in New York in 2017. In November 2025, Gustav Klimt’s Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer sold for $236.4 million at Sotheby’s, the highest price ever paid for a modern artwork at auction.

The list has changed in the past year. Klimt’s portrait entered the top five, and in May 2026 a Jackson Pollock drip painting from the S.I. Newhouse collection sold for $181.2 million. Below are the 14 most expensive paintings ever sold, including both auction results and reported private sales.

1. Salvator Mundi: $450.3 million

Salvator Mundi, a painting of Christ attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, sold for $450.3 million including fees at Christie’s New York in November 2017. It remains the most expensive artwork ever sold at public auction.

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The buyer was Saudi Prince Badr bin Abdullah, widely reported to be acting for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Some experts still question how much of the painting is by Leonardo himself, and it has not been shown in public since the sale.

2. Interchange: $300 million

Willem de Kooning’s 1955 abstract work Interchange was sold privately by the David Geffen Foundation in 2015 to hedge fund founder Kenneth Griffin. It was part of a two-painting deal worth about $500 million that also included Pollock’s Number 17A.

Griffin has lent Interchange to the Art Institute of Chicago.

3. The Card Players: $250 million

Paul Cézanne painted five versions of The Card Players in the 1890s. In 2011 the royal family of Qatar bought one from the collection of Greek shipping magnate George Embiricos for a reported $250 million or more.

It was the highest known price for any painting at the time. The other four versions are held by museums, including the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.

4. Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer: $236.4 million

Klimt’s full-length portrait of Elisabeth Lederer, painted between 1914 and 1916, sold for $236.4 million at Sotheby’s New York on 18 November 2025. It was estimated at about $150 million and sold after roughly 20 minutes of bidding between six bidders.

The painting came from the collection of cosmetics billionaire Leonard A. Lauder, who died in 2025. Sotheby’s did not name the buyer. It broke the earlier record for modern art set by Warhol’s Shot Sage Blue Marilyn in 2022.

5. Nafea Faa Ipoipo: $210 million

Paul Gauguin painted Nafea Faa Ipoipo (When Will You Marry?) in 1892 during his first stay in Tahiti. The Staechelin family trust in Switzerland sold it privately to Qatar for a reported $210 million.

The painting had been on long-term loan to the Kunstmuseum Basel for decades before the sale.

6. Number 17A: $200 million

Jackson Pollock painted Number 17A in 1948, the year he developed his drip technique. Kenneth Griffin bought it from David Geffen in 2015 for about $200 million as part of the same deal as Interchange.

7. The Standard Bearer: $198 million

The Dutch state paid €175 million, about $198 million at the time, for Rembrandt’s The Standard Bearer in 2022. It was bought from the French branch of the Rothschild family and is now in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Rembrandt painted the work around 1636, when he was about 30.

8. Shot Sage Blue Marilyn: $195 million

Andy Warhol’s 1964 silkscreen portrait of Marilyn Monroe sold for $195 million at Christie’s New York in May 2022. Art dealer Larry Gagosian was the buyer.

The sale was the record for a 20th century artwork at auction until the Klimt sale in 2025.

9. No. 6 (Violet, Green and Red): $186 million

Mark Rothko painted No. 6 (Violet, Green and Red) in 1951. Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev bought it privately in 2014 for about $186 million through Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier.

The purchase later became part of a long legal dispute between Rybolovlev and Bouvier over the prices charged.

10. Wasserschlangen II: $183.8 million

Klimt’s Wasserschlangen II (Water Serpents II) was bought by Rybolovlev in 2013 for about $183.8 million, also through Bouvier. The painting had a disputed ownership history from the Nazi era, which was settled before the sale.

11. Number 7A: $181.2 million

Pollock’s Number 7A, 1948, a drip painting more than three metres wide, sold for $181.2 million including fees at Christie’s New York on 18 May 2026. It came from the collection of the late publisher S.I. Newhouse.

The result more than doubled Pollock’s previous auction record of $61.2 million, set in 2021.

12. Pendant portraits of Maerten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit: $180 million

Rembrandt’s 1634 wedding portraits of Maerten Soolmans and Oopjen Coppit were bought jointly by the Louvre and the Rijksmuseum for €160 million, about $180 million, from the Rothschild family. Each museum paid half.

The two paintings are always shown together and move between Paris and Amsterdam.

13. Les Femmes d’Alger (Version O): $179.4 million

Pablo Picasso’s Les Femmes d’Alger (Version O), from a 1954 to 1955 series of 15 works, sold for $179.4 million at Christie’s New York in May 2015. At the time it was the most expensive painting ever sold at auction.

14. Nu couché: $170.4 million

Amedeo Modigliani’s Nu couché (Reclining Nude), painted in 1917 to 1918, sold for $170.4 million at Christie’s New York in November 2015. The buyer was Chinese collector Liu Yiqian, who displays his collection at the Long Museum in Shanghai.

How we ranked these paintings

We ranked paintings by the price paid in US dollars, including auction fees. Private sales are included where the price was widely reported. Prices are not adjusted for inflation. Sculptures, such as Brâncuși’s Danaide, which sold for $107.6 million in May 2026, are not included.

Many famous works, such as the Mona Lisa, are owned by museums and are not for sale, so they do not appear. For other record art sales, see our list of the most expensive sculptures ever sold.

Sources: FOX 5 DC, Malay Mail (AFP), ARTnews, 1stDibs.