The 10 Most Expensive Paintings of the Last 12 Years

Masterworks, a company that sells fractional shares of important artworks it buys at auction, sent me this list of the 10 most expensive paintings sold in the last dozen years. I was surprised by some of them.

1. Leonardo da Vinci, Salvator Mundi – $450.3M (sold 2017)
2. Willem de Kooning, Interchange – $300M (sold 2015)
3. Paul Cézanne, The Card Players – $250M (sold 2011)
4. Andy Warhol, Orange Marilyn – $225M (sold 2018)
5. Paul Gauguin, Nafea Faa Ipoipo? – $210M (sold 2015)
6. Jackson Pollock, Number 17A – $200M (sold 2015)
7. Mark Rothko, No. 20 (Yellow Expanse) – $200M (sold 2014)
8. Rembrandt, The Standard Bearer – $197.9M (sold 2021)
9. Andy Warhol, Shot Sage Blue Marilyn – $195M (sold 2022)
10. Gustav Klimt, Wasserschlangen II – $187M (sold 2013)

It’s not surprising that the da Vinci tops the list. And I get the Rembrandt. And Cézanne’s The Card Players. But I don’t understand how a de Kooning fetched $300 million. Or how two of Warhol’s “Marilyns” made the list. Same with the rest. Am I wrong? What do you think?