The Most Expensive Paintings in the World

Many rich men in the world collect valuable things such as classic cars, antique furnitures, gems and precious stones, and they are willing to spend much money for them. These things are good not only to lift up their fame and reputation, but also good for investment. A rare classic car from the last century could cost millions of dollar. And the price would multiply in the future. But amongst those precious investment there is none could compare to paintings. They are just beyond sane imagination.

How much? Please read the report on the most expensive paintings ever below. You will be shocked to know these insane painting prices.

Mona Lisa
by Leonardo da Vinci (1503–1507)

Monalisa (La Gioconda) by famous Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, is undoubtedly the most valuable painting of all. This masterpiece now belongs to the French Government and is being displayed in the Musée du Louvre in Paris, so it cannot be offerred in an auction. But it has the highest insurance value for a painting in history, $100 million on December 14, 1962. With inflation taken into account, the painting’s value in 2006 was estimated to be US$ 670 million! You cannot buy Mona Lisa even if you had the money. So just forget her. Instead, here are ten most expensive paintings in the world. If you are fortunate enough, you can still buy one of them:

1. US$ 135,000,000
Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907)
by Gustav Klimt

This paintng was painted by Gustav Klimt, an Austrian symbolist painter in 1907. It was Ronald Lauder, owner of Nueu Gallery in New York City who paid the painting for US$ 135,000,000 at an auction in Christie's, New York in June 2006.Adele Bloch-Bauer, the model, was actually the wife of a Jewish sugar industrialist Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer and the hostess of a prominent Vienna salon. This painting is considered one of the artist's masterpieces. Klimt made another painting with Adele as the model in 1912 . It was entitled The Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II.

2. US$ 116,790,000
Portrait of Dr. Gachet (1890)
by Vincent van Gogh

The second place of the most expensive painting in the world was for the painting by Dutch mpressionist painting Vincent van Gogh. Ryoei Saito, a Japanese businessman, bought this masterpiece for US$ 82.5 million on May 1990 at an auction in Christie’s, New York. He once shocked the world when he announced he wish the van Gogh painting to be cremated with him at his death. Later he corrected this statement. Vincent van Gogh actually painted two versions of Dr Gachet's portrait with a slightly different color scheme. The other version is displayed at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

3. US$ 110,420,000
Bal au moulin de la Galette (1876)
by Pierre-Augusto Renoir

This painting by French noted artist Pierre-August Renoir, was sold for US$ 78 million at Sotherby’s Auction House, New York in May 1990, also to Ryoei Saito. Today it was assessed to worth US$ 110,420,000.

Renoir painted this “Bal au moulin de la Galette, Montmartre” in 1876. There are two versions of this painting with the same title: the larger one is now displayed at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, while the smaller version was owned by Ryoe Saito (who died in 1996). Bal au moulin de la Galette was also in danger to be cremated with Saito together with the van Gogh’s painting, Portrait of Dr. Gachet.

4. US$ 109,910,00
Garçon à la Pipe (1905)
by Pablo Picasso

Although it was not a made in cubist style, which its painter Pablo Picasso was renown for, Garçon à la Pipe (Boy with a Pipe) surprisingly hit an unpredicted price of US$ 104.1 million at Sotheby’s auction haouse, New York in May 2004. Many art critics said that the painting's high sale price has much more to do with the artist's name than with the merit or historical importance of the painting. “Garçon à la Pipe” was painted in 1905 during 24-year-old Picasso's famous Rose Period, a period in which Picasso preferred cheerfulorange and pink colours. The oil on canvas painting depicts a Parisian boy holding a pipe in his left hand.

5. US$ 95,216,000

Dora Maar au Chat (1941)
by Pablo Picasso

“Dora Maar au Chat”(Dora Maar with Cat) is a painting by Pablo Picasso which he made in 1941. Dora Maar, the painting object, was the painter's mistress. She was sitting on a chair with a small black cat on her right shoulder. The work is painted in Picasso's well-known cubist style. It was sold in an auction of impressionist works held at Sotheby', New York, in May 2006 in to an anonymous bidder, whose final bid was $95.2 million, well exceeding the pre-auction $50 million estimate.