The 8th Most Expensive Painting in the World

When offered at Sotheby’s New York in May 2006, the pre-auction estimate for this Picasso painting was pegged at a mere $50 million. But when it sold for $95,200,000 it attained at that time the second-highest price ever paid for a painting. On our list of the Top Ten Most Expensive Paintings, today it stands at Number 8.

8. “Dora Maar au Chat” by Pablo Picasso, sold in 2006 for $95.2 million. Inflation-adjusted price $101.8 million.
“Dora Maar with Cat” owes its allure to the relationship of the artist and the woman he pictured. Painted in France, in 1941 by Pablo Picasso, the controversial portrait is sometimes described as an unflattering depiction of Maar, his mistress for over ten years. An artist/photographer of Croatian descent, Picasso was fond of calling Maar his "private muse.”

Picasso depicts Maar seated on a chair with a small, black cat perched on her shoulder. The canvas is 50 by 37 inches (128 cm by 95 cm).

Picasso painted many other portraits of Maar in evidence of the extraordinary love affair, which made her famous forever. Twenty-five years his junior, her real name was Henriette Theodora Markovitch.

Previous Top 10 Listings:

9. “Portrait of Joseph Roulin” by Vincent van Gogh, sold in 1989 for
$58 million. Inflation-adjusted price $100.5 million. Read more >

10. “Portrait de l’Artiste sans Barbe” by Vincent van Gogh, sold in 1998 for
$71.5 million. Inflation-adjusted price $94.6 million. Read more >

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