The Most Expensive Painting in the World

We cannot say for certain who owns this painting. But we do know that it cost more money than any painting ever sold.

1. “No 5, 1948” by Jackson Pollock, sold in 2006 for $140 million. Inflation-adjusted price $149.6 million.

Jackson Pollock was a major figure in the Abstract Expressionist movement in the mid-twentieth century. He left a lasting imprint on art and artists, owing to the combined forces of his meteoric career, volatile personality and habitual alcoholism. The fact that Pollock died tragically young at age 44, when he crashed the convertible he was driving during a drunken binge with two women in the car, added to his myth as a bad-boy artist, forever sealing
his place among the flawed deities of art.

Pollock lit out from Cody, Wyoming, ended up in New York in 1936, got a pad in Greenwich Village, enrolled at the Art Students League and hung out with other hungry artists. His subject matter then was totemic animals and human figures, although he never was a good draftsman.

An Experimental Workshop introduced Pollock to what were at that time a novel medium called alkyd enamels, the fluid paints he later used to develop his unique "drip" technique.

With his canvases laid out on the studio floor, Pollock used stiff brushes, sticks, and even basting syringes to drip, flow, splash, squirt, flip and fling paints onto the canvas. His unique painting style is thought to be one of the origins of the term “action painting.” Time magazine later dubbed Pollock "Jack the Dripper.”

During his free-form drip period which lasted only four years (1947-51), Pollock shifted away from figurative images. He used numbered titles because numbers are neutral. Pollock wanted viewers to see his paintings for what they are, pure paint dripped onto a canvas or panel. Pollock did paintings, not pictures.

At the peak of his fame, Pollock abruptly abandoned drip painting. He reintroduced figurative elements into his work but the art world paid scant attention. His death was in 1956.

In 2006, news reports said that David Geffen, co-founder of Dreamworks, privately sold his Pollock “No. 5“ for a record price of $140 million, the most money ever paid for a painting.

The well-heeled buyer? At first, it was said that a Mexican-born financier, David Martinez, bought it, ostensibly to help decorate his recently purchased $54-million Manhattan penthouse. However, Martinez’s P.R. firm has denied that he is the owner. Another rumor is that the current owner is an unnamed German businessman and art collector.

Whomever! What the lucky owner got for $140 million is a classic among Pollock's drip paintings, a densely tangled thicket of brown, yellow, white, maroon and black squiggles and yarn-like skeins, unleashed onto a 4 by 8- foot sheet of fiberboard. Controlled chaos in paint.

The significance of Pollock’s drip paintings were unclear even to him. Some think his golden age marked the end of a long revolution in art started by the Impressionists a century earlier. As one observer noted, Pollock “blew traditional notions of academic skill to smithereens, and he gave abstraction an edge of danger by both confirming and undermining its credibility once and for all.”

Love it or hate it -- this is how Jackson Pollock changed painting forever -- for better or worse. The shadow of Jack the Dripper continues to looms large over art, especially in America.

Previous Top-10 Listings. Read more>

Visit the BINDERS website at www.bindersart.com!

The 2nd Most Expensive Painting in the World

Here we see the first painting by an American artist on our list of the Ten Most Expensive Paintings in the World. And once again, the combined forces of the artist’s name, subject matter and provenance have boosted the selling price to orbital heights.

2. “Women III” by Willem de Kooning, sold in 2006 for $137.5 million. Inflation-adjusted price $147 million.

Willem De Kooning was a Dutch-born American Abstract Expressionist painter. Woman III is one of a six numbered paintings in which his central theme was a woman. It measures 68 by 48 inches (170 x 120 cm) and was completed in 1953.

De Kooning had eight years of formal art training in Rotterdam before smuggling himself into the US at age 22. Unlike other Abstract Expressionists, de Kooning’s work is figurative, and built with a sure understand of human form. He blended expressionist deconstruction with recognizable, ferocious imagery.

With their aggressive brushwork and high-key colors, de Kooning’s“Women” paintings are fearsome, an unsettling mix of lust, satire, idolatry and dazzle. These paintings caused a sensation in the 50s, much as they do today.

Almost as startling is this painting’s ownership history. From the 70s to 1994 Woman III was in Iran’s Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art collection. But it had not been shown since the 1979 Iranian Revolution when the Shah and his Monarchy were replaced by the current Islamic Republic of Iran. Under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini, “Woman III” was rejected as being unsuitable for public display. Unsuitable or not, her keepers were aware that paintings by de Kooning were then selling in the $20-million range, and so “Woman III” was carefully maintained.

Finally, after 15 years in the closet, the de Kooning was quietly traded for remnants of a precious 16th-century Persian manuscript known as the Tahmasbi Shahnameh. This book, which originally contained 258 brilliantly painted miniatures, had been dissected into separate sheets by its thoughtless owner and more than half were sold off.

Nonetheless, in 1994, in return for the de Kooning painting through a British art dealer, Iran obtained the remaining 118 plates that survived in the Persian manuscript. Joy all around.

In an eye-blink, “Woman III” was acquired for an undisclosed amount by American David Geffen, a Brooklyn-born film/entertainment maven, recently of Dream/Works fame. In November 2006, he sold it for $137.5 million to Stephen Cohen, age 50, a billionaire hedge-fund manager and prominent art collector.

In a second opinion, a British Museum book expert said that the Tahmasbi Shahnameh was worth at least 20 paintings from de Kooning.

Previous Top-10 Listings. Read more>

Visit the BINDERS website at www.bindersart.com!

The 3rd Most Expensive Painting in the World

What makes this painting so special and worth its exorbitant price? Is it because of the artist who created it, or the woman he painted, or its controversial history? The answer is probably all of the above.

3. “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I” by Gustav Klimt, sold in 2006 for $135 million. Inflation-adjusted price $144.4 million.

Skillfully painted in 1907 by the art nouveau master Gustav Klimt, it flaunts elaborate and complex ornamentation in oil and gold on canvas. Measuring 54x54 inches (138x138 cm), the composition took Klimt three years to complete.

The painting was commissioned by Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, a wealthy Vienna industrialist. In 1925, his wife Adele indicated in her will that the painting of her should be donated to the Austrian State Gallery. But when the Nazis took over Austria, her widowed husband Ferdinand had to flee to Switzerland. His property, including Adele’s portrait and four other Klimts, was confiscated.

Although Ferdinand and Adele had no children, he had designated his nephew and nieces, including Maria Altmann, as the inheritors of his estate.

Following WWII, the Austrian government took the position that Adele’s will had determined that the pictures were to remain in Austria. After a long court battle the Austrian court finally established that the surviving niece, Maria Altmann, was the rightful owner.

The paintings were sent to America in 2006. Soon after, in a record-breaking sale, Klimt’s portrait of Adele was sold to philanthropist Ronald Lauder, the son of Joseph and Estee Lauder, founders the cosmetics empire.

Today the painting is a centerpiece in Lauder’s collection for his Neue Galerie in New York, which has for years attempted to recover Jewish-owned art confiscated or looted by the Nazis. Lauder’s comment on the acquisition for his Neue Galerie collection: “This is our Mona Lisa.”

Previous Top-10 Listings. Read more>

Visit the BINDERS website at www.bindersart.com!

The 4th Most Expensive Painting in the World

Vincent van Gogh painted four of the seven previous works on our bottom-to-top listing of the “10 most expensive paintings in the world.” A remarkable achievement by an artist who didn’t sell any paintings during his turbulent lifetime.

4. “Portrait of Dr. Gachet” by Vincent van Gogh, sold in 1990 for 82.5 million. Inflation-adjusted price $136.1 million.

Painted in June 1890 in Auyers-sur-Oise near Paris, the portrait depicts Doctor Paul Gachet who cared for Van Gogh during the artist's last months.

Just before painting it, van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo, “Ah! portraiture, portraiture with the thought, the soul of the model in it, that is what I think must come.”

Dr. Gachet is shown sitting at a table and leaning his head onto his right arm. The oil painting measures 22 x 23 in. (67 × 56 cm).

Van Gogh did two portraits of Gachet, both with emphasis is on Gachet's melancholic disposition. In a letter to Theo, Van Gogh's first impression was that Gachet was “sicker than I am, I think, or shall we say just as much.”

Despite his recurrent bouts of mental illness, the Dutch painter was neither the raving lunatic nor isolated recluse that many imagine. Van Gogh was quite popular and active in art circles, and well regarded by other artists of his day. A pioneer of Post-Impressionism, Van Gogh’s work influenced Abstract Expressionism the 1950s, and today he continues to exert a noticeable impact on new generation of artists.

The painting of Dr. Gachet became shrouded in mystery soon after it sold for a record auction price at Christie’s in 1990. The Australian- born financier who acquired it in 1997 later sold it to parties as yet unknown. The second version of the painting is at Musee d’Orsay in Paris.

Previous Top-10 Listings:
5. “Moulin de la Galette“ by Pierre-Auguste Renior. Read more>
6. “Garçon à la Pipe” by Pablo Picasso. Read more>
7. “Irises” by Vincent van Gogh. Read more>
8. “Dora Maar au Chat” by Pablo Picasso. Read more>
9. “Portrait of Joseph Roulin” by Vincent van Gogh. Read more>
10. “Portrait de l’Artiste sans Barbe” by Vincent van Gogh. Read more>

Visit the BINDERS website at www.bindersart.com!

The 5th Most Expensive Painting in the World

This work by French artist Pierre-Auguste Renior is one of his happiest compositions, as well as one of Impressionism's most celebrated masterpieces. The previous five paintings on our Top 10 List were done by van Gogh (3) and Picasso (2).

5. “Moulin de la Galette” by Pierre-Auguste Renior, sold in 1990 for $78.1 million. Inflation-adjusted price $123.8 million.

Painted in 1876, Renior’s work is a snapshot of real life, depicting the “people of Paris” enjoying a carefree Sunday afternoon at the Moulin, a popular acacia-shaded courtyard in the Montmartre district of Paris. Here, working class Parisians would dress up and spend time into the evening, dancing, drinking, and eating galette, the crusty pastry that was Moulin’s specialty.

Lighthearted and full of evanescent color, Renior’s painting displays a richness of form and a fluidity of brush stroke. The dapple of light is a typically Impressionist feature.

Renior’s oil on canvas measures 52 x 69 in (131 × 175 cm). Nobody before him had thought of capturing some aspect of daily life in a canvas of such large dimensions. In this work, Renior also introduced portraits of friends, family, and other painters.

In 1991, the painting was owned by a Japanese industrialist who outrageously suggested he intended to cremate it with himself when he died. However, when his companies ran into severe financial difficulties, the bankers who held the painting as collateral for loans arranged a confidential sale through Sotheby's to an undisclosed buyer. Currently, the painting resides at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

Previous Top-10 Listings:
6. “Garçon à la Pipe” by Pablo Picasso. Read more>
7. “Irises” by Vincent van Gogh. Read more>
8. “Dora Maar au Chat” by Pablo Picasso. Read more>
9. “Portrait of Joseph Roulin” by Vincent van Gogh. Read more>
10. “Portrait de l’Artiste sans Barbe” by Vincent van Gogh. Read more>

Visit our website at www.bindersart.com!

The 6th Most Expensive Painting in the World

It’s a Picasso, again! But, at the halfway point on our list of the World’s Top 10 Most Expensive Paintings, van Gogh still leads, 3-2.

6. “Garçon à la Pipe” by Pablo Picasso, sold in 2004 for $104.2 million. Inflation-adjusted price $118.9 million.
“Garçon à la Pipe” (Boy with a Pipe) was painted in 1905 when Picasso was 24 years old, during his “rose period.“ Picasso started this picture, then gave it a rest period. About a month later he finish it off by placing a garland of flowers on the model’s head. The decorative background reminds us of van Gogh, and there is a contrast between feminine and masculinity in the picture.

The record auction price at the time on May 4, 2004 in Sotheby's was a bit of a surprise to the core art buyers, because it was painted in the style not usually associated with the pioneering Cubist artist.

Many art critics felt the painting's high price had more to do with the artist's name than with its merit or historical importance. A Picasso expert said, "This just shows how much the marketplace is split from the true values of art.” Stay tuned, we’ll keep you posted.

Previous Top-10 Listings:
7. “Irises” by Vincent van Gogh. Read more>
8. “Dora Maar au Chat” by Pablo Picasso. Read more>
9. “Portrait of Joseph Roulin” by Vincent van Gogh. Read more>
10. “Portrait de l’Artiste sans Barbe” by Vincent van Gogh. Read more>

Visit our website at www.bindersart.com!

The 7th Most Expensive Painting in the World

Once again Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh, for whom color was the chief symbol of expression, appears on the list of the World’s Top Ten Most Expensive Paintings. Van Gogh’s works have already appeared three times since our countdown started four weeks ago.

7. “ Irises” by Vincent van Gogh, sold in 1967 for $53.9 million. Inflation-adjusted price $102.3 million.
An oil painting on canvas, van Gogh‘s “Irises” measures 28” x 37” (71 x 93 cm).

In the last year before his death in 1890 Vincent van Gogh chose to enter an asylum in Saint-Rémy, France. Within a week he began Irises, working from nature in the asylum's garden. Each one of Van Gogh's painting of irises is unique. He carefully studied their movements and shapes to create a variety of curved silhouettes bounded by wavy, twisting, and curling lines.

The painting was auctioned at Sotheby’s New York by the son of Joan Whitney Payson, an American heiress. The buyer was Alan Bond, a high- flying Australian businessman. but he did not have enough money to pay for it and it had to be re-sold.

“Irises” is currently on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

Previous Top 10 Listings:
8. “Dora Maar au Chat” by Pablo Picasso. Read more>
9. “Portrait of Joseph Roulin” by Vincent van Gogh. Read more>
10. “Portrait de l’Artiste sans Barbe” by Vincent van Gogh. Read more>

Visit our website at www.bindersart.com!

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 >

Visit our website at www.bindersart.com!

The 9th Most Expensive Painting in the World

Last week we began listing the Top 10 Most Expensive Paintings in the World with a Vincent van Gogh self-portrait. Vincent appears again this week in the Number 9 spot -- are we seeing a trend here?

9. “Portrait of Joseph Roulin” by Vincent van Gogh, sold in 1989 for $58 million. Inflation-adjusted price $100.5 million.
This superb portrait was acquired by The Museum of Modern Art from a Swiss collector for cash and other works in 1989. Painted a century earlier, in 1889, the oil painting on canvas measures 25” x 21“ (65 x 54 cm).

Joseph-Ettiene Roulin was a postal worker in Arles, France, where Van Gogh lived in the famed Yellow House from 1888 to 1889. Van Gogh did many portraits of Roulin, regarding him as both a man of the people and a sage. Roulin’s support was vital to van Gogh as the artist struggled for mental equilibrium during his final years.

The strength of this portrait, its centered stability and immense energy, embodies the deep admiration van Gogh must have felt for his friend.

Next week, we’ll hit on the 8th most expensive painting in the world.

Previous Top 10 Listing:
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

Visit our website at www.bindersart.com!

The World’s Top 10 Most Expensive Paintings

We got to wondering about the highest prices ever paid for paintings.

And so each week over the next ten weeks we’ll blog about each of the top ten most costly paintings in the world. You’ll find out how much money was paid for them, and what makes them so super expensive.

Most of all, this extraordinary collection is intended to offer inspiration to today’s artists.

Let the countdown begin.

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

Painted in 1889 at Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France, it is one of many self-portraits by the Post Impressionist artist. This is an uncommon painting because van Gogh’s other self-portraits show him with a beard.

“Self-portrait without beard” is an oil painting on canvas and measures 16" x 13" (40 cm x 31 cm). It became one of the most expensive paintings of all time when it was sold for $71.5 at a Christie's auction in 1998 in New York.

Visit our website at www.bindersart.com!