When Edvard Munch’s “Scream” sold for $119.1m at Sotheby’s last week, it established a new world record for most expensive painting ever sold at auction. In these times of newly minted billionaires from Asia, Russia, and the Mideast, however, records don’t stand for long. During the past eight years, a variety or works have worn the crown. Read more about the paintings that drew the top ten prices ever paid at auction.
1. Munch’s “Scream,” $119.m, Sotheby, 2012.
2. Picasso’s “Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust,” $106.5m, Christie’s, 2010.
3. Giacometti’s “Walking Man,” $104.3, Sotheby’s, 2010.
4. Picasso’s “Boy With A Pipe,” $104.2m, Sotheby’s, 2004.
5. Picasso’s “Dora Maar With A Cat,” $95.2m, Sotheby’s, 2006.
6. Gustav Klimt’s “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II,” $87.9m, Christie’s, 2006.
7. Monet’s “Le Basin aux Nympheas,” $80.4m, Christie’s, 2008.
8. Francis Bacon’s “Triptych, 1976,” $86.3m, Sotheby’s, 2008.
9. Roy Lichtenstein’s “I Can See the Whole Room and There’s Nobody In It,” $43.2m,Christie’s, 2011.
10. Andy Warhol’s “Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car),” $71.7m, Christie’s, 2007.
