The highest known price paid for an artwork by a living artist was for Jasper Johns's 1958 painting Flag. Its 2010 private sale price was estimated to be about US$110 million ($ million in dollars).
All-time
This is a list of highest prices ever paid—at auction or private sale—for an artwork by an artist living at time of sale.
+Adjusted price (in millions of USD)Original price (in millions of USD)WorkArtistDateVenueRef.110FlagPrivate sale91.1RabbitChristie's90.3Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)Christie's80False StartPrivate sale69.3Everydays: the First 5000 DaysMarch 2021Christie's68.3Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in HalfChristie's6262 The Journey of Humanity Sacha Jafri Humanity Inspired Royal Charity Auction, DubaiBritish artist sells world's largest painting The Journey of Humanity for $62m, The Guardian, March 22, 2021Sophie Prideaux, World's largest painting created in Dubai by Sacha Jafri sells for record-breaking $62 million, The National, March 23, 202158.4Balloon Dog (Orange)Christie's
Progressive auction sales records
This is a list of progressive records of the highest price ever paid at auction for the work of an artist who was living at time of sale. As a progressive record listing, it only lists auctions records that topple the previous best. The current record price is US$91 million for Jeff Koons's 1986 sculpture, Rabbit, set in 2019. The current record price for a painting is $90 million for David Hockney's 1972 Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures), set the prior year.
+Adjusted price (in millions of USD)Original price (in millions of USD)WorkArtistDateAuction houseRef.91.8291.1RabbitChristie's92.4890.3Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)Christie's64.6858.4Balloon Dog (Orange)Christie's41.1137.1Domplatz, MailandSotheby's38.1634.2Abstraktes Bild (809-4) (1994)Sotheby's40.0333.6Benefits Supervisor SleepingChristie's28.9823.6Hanging Heart (Magenta/Gold)Sotheby's23.9119.3Lullaby SpringSotheby's36.4817False StartSotheby's15.027White FlagChristie's9.184.18DiverChristie's8.283.63 (tied)Pink LadySotheby's8.493.63 (tied)Out the WindowSotheby's3.231.2Two WomenChristie's2.190.8L'Enigme du Desir/Ma Mere, Ma Mere, Ma MereChristie's4.130.53Mother and ChildSotheby's1.880.22Death of Harlequin/Woman in a GardenSotheby's1.340.15 (tied)La Belle HollandaiseSotheby's"Auction Records Broken in London: A Picasso Sold for £55, 000." Illustrated London News, May 16, 1959, p. 835. "... at Sotheby's on May 6, an early Picasso nude... was sold ... for £55,000, the highest price ever paid in an auction room for the work of a living artist. Prior to this the record had been held by another Picasso, a Mother and Child, which was sold last November in New York for £54,000.1.340.15 (tied)Mother and ChildSotheby's0.066Friedland, 1807Stewart estate sale0.045Les CommuniantesMary J. Morgan estate saleLettres, sciences, arts: Encyclopédie universelle du XXe siècle. 1908. 3: 85. "... les Communiantes (Salon de 1884): 227,500 fr. C'est l'enchère la plus considèrable qui ait été atteinte jusqu'alors par un tableau d'artiste vivant"Methodist Magazine. January 1901. p. 81: "For the painting of 'The First Communion,' by Breton, [Lord Strathcona] paid the sum of $45,000, the highest price, it is said, ever paid for a modern picture sold at auction."
Private sales Jasper Johns's 1958 Flag painting was sold by Steven A. Cohen to Jean-Christophe Castelli for ca $110 million in 2010 ($ million in dollars). Damien Hirst's For the Love of God (2007), composed of diamond and platinum, was privately acquired by a consortium, which included the artist himself, in August 2007 for $100 million – equivalent to approximately $141 million when adjusted for inflation to 2022 values. Another Jasper Johns painting, False Start (1959), was sold by Kenneth C. Griffin to David Geffen on October 12, 2006, for a then record $80 million.($ million in dollars)Carol Vogel, Works by Johns and de Kooning Sell for $143.5 Million, The New York Times, October 12, 2006 The Whitney Museum of American Art privately purchased Jasper Johns's Three Flags in 1980 for $1 million ($ million in dollars), then a record price for a living artist. In 1967, citizens of Basel, Switzerland, raised nearly $2 million to buy two Picasso paintings for their Kunstmuseum Basel.LIFE Dec 27, 1968, p. 120. "Picasso's top price—in fact, the top price in history for the work of a living artist—was set in Basel, Switzerland, where citizens raised $1,950,000 to buy Two Brothers, 1905, and Seated Harlequin, 1923, for their museum." In 1890, , owner of the Grands Magasins du Louvre department store, purchased Ernest Meissonier's 1814 The Campaign of France from a banker for 850,000 Fr (US$162,000 in 1890; equivalent to $ million in ), the highest price for a painting by an artist alive or dead.
See also List of most expensive paintings List of most expensive sculptures List of most expensive photographs List of most expensive books and manuscripts List of most expensive non-fungible tokens
References