Most Expensive Paintings Sold at Public Auction
The highest prices ever paid for paintings at public auction (excluding private sales), led by Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi at $450.3 million in 2017. Figures are nominal US dollars at the hammer, including buyer's premium.
About This Dataset
Most Expensive Paintings Sold at Public AuctionSalvator Mundi is in a league of its own at $450.3M - nearly double the second-place Klimt Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer, which set a modern-art record at $236.4M in 2025. Below the top two, prices compress sharply into a $110M-$195M band holding six works. Christie's and Sotheby's account for every sale, and the timeline shows escalating peaks: The Scream (2012), the Picasso and Modigliani records (2015), Salvator Mundi (2017), and the Warhol and Klimt highs of 2022-2025. Old Master, Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and Pop works all appear, confirming that scarcity and provenance, not era, drive the very top of the market.
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Most Expensive Paintings Sold at Public Auction
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