Top 10 most expensive artworks

When they were alive, most of the painters known today as "Great Artists" didn't even have enough money to live a comfortable life. Now their paintings are worth millions.

Adele Bloch-bauer I

The most expensive painting ever sold is said to be Jackson Pollok’s “Number 5, 1948″. It is said that the art work was bought for $140 million at a private sale in 2006, though the exact price was never confirmed. David Greffen sold it to an unknown buyer, whom is rumored to be David Martinez, a Mexican business man.

Woman III

The second most expensive painting in art history is Willem De Kooning’s “Woman III,” bought for $137.5 million by Steven Cohen. It is the only woman painting by Kooning owned by a private person.

Gustav Klimt’s “Adele Bloch-bauer I” sits in the 3rd place in the top 10 most expensive artworks. The cosmetic magnate, Ronald Lauder bought it for $135 million, at a private sale, in 2006. The painting originally belonged to Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, but the Nazis confiscated it during World War II. In 1948, after the war, the art work was placed at the National Gallery of Austria.

Nude, Green Leaves and Bust

“Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” by Pablo Picasso is worth $106.5 million. The price was paid by an anonymous buyer, at the Christine’s New York auction, in May 2010. This is the biggest price ever paid at an auction.

The “Nude” painting is followed in top 10 most expensive art works by another canvas made by Picasso, “Garcon a la pipe” (Boy with a Pipe). Now it is in the hands of an anonymous buyer who spend on it over $104 million, at the Sotherby’s auction, in May 2004.

Andy Warhol’s “Eight Elvises” completes the rank, on number 6. The painting is worth $100 million and was sold at a private auction in 2008.

Dora Maar au chat

Picasso is present again in the ranking to number 7 with “Dora Maar au chat” (Dora Maar with Cat). The painting was sold at the Sotherby’s auction, in May 2006, for $95.2 million.

Titian is the only old master in the rank, with “Diana and Actaeon,” sold at a private sale on February 2009. A buyer from United Kingdom has it now for $91 million.

Sold only a few months later than Klimt’s first version of “Adele,” the second painting was worth $87.9 million.

Francis Bacon closes the rank with “Tryptich 1976.” A European private buyer gave on it $86.3 million, at the Sotherby’s, in May 2008.

However, the most expensive painting in art history has not been sold in any auction or private sale. Guinness World Records lists the Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci as having the highest insurance value for a painting in history. It was estimated at $100 million on December 14, 1962. Taking inflation into account, the Mona Lisa would be valued today at around $743 million!

Great Artists: Frida Kahlo turned pain into creation

It is said that “A picture is worth a thousand words”. We use words to express what we feel or what we need. However, when it comes to images you don’t need words anymore. 

The image is the one that can capture a feeling: sadness or happiness. You become absorbed in the feelings that live before you. The artist can make you feel sad or happy.

The artist is the one that can and will play with your feelings, even if he or she is not near you. Artists can do that by just creating a painting that can change the way you feel only by looking at it. The free will inside you is not so free anymore. The choice of what you should take is not yours anymore. You are just a person at the crime scene, and you can’t take your eyes from it. It is mesmerizing. In the same time, an artist can make you sense what he is feeling.

Frida Kahlo is an artist who could lay her feelings on canvas. She described with images what she was going through since the accident on September 17th 1925. It was the exact day of the Mexican independence. In the years that passed, she described the accident by painting it. She also wrote: “I sat on the edge, near the descent. Moments later the bus was hit by a tram line Xochimilco. The Tram crashed the bus on the corner of the street. It was an odd blow. It wasn’t violent, but dull, slow, injuring everyone. Especially I.” She suffered a triple fracture of the spine, clavicle fracture, dislocation of left shoulder, triple fracture of pelvis, abdomen and pelvis perforation and dislocation of her right leg. Virtually, the accident stopped time for Frida, who was, as she described in her memoirs, a wanderer.

The list health problems will continue throughout her life. However, Frida is the worthy example of someone whose body is weak, but whose interior is strongly. In the long days she had to wait to walk again Frida made the first significant painting of her work, Self portrait in a Velvet Dress. It is influenced by the Renaissance painters whom she studied with passion during convalescence. Besides her work is represented by the self-portraits, the only person she knew best so she could spread feelings on canvas. She was the only person who could stand still long enough that she could surprise even the most hidden feelings. People can only see glimpses of the person you really are, but they can never look within yourself to see your hidden thoughts.

Sometimes even you cannot see the hidden part of you. I fell in love with Frida not only for her original paintings, but because of the whole package, her life. I think that you can’t understand the significance given by the artist to his paintings if you don’t know his life. Because Frida lived in much of her life in bed in a room with four walls, her paintings are full of solitude. We can see this by the fact that the main character is placed in the middle of the paintings, all alone. Sadness in the eyes of the character also surprises. She shows loneliness and sadness as they are, without a curtain. The artist’s suffering can be seen especially in the painting The Broken Column, made in 1944.

Admired in Frida is that for a moment, she did not hide the sadness and suffering that had gone through her life. Frida is for me a worthy artist. She wrote towards the end of her life “I hope the exit is joyful, and I hope I never come back.”

Most people fear of death, but she would look right into its eyes. Perhaps the harsh and sincere reality of her paintings resonates so much with the viewer precisely because it describes exactly what the world feels: that we struggle alone with our own suffering.

Frida shows that you don’t need words to reflect how you feel just as you don’t have to reveal your wound for people to understand your pain. You only need a painting.

Abstract paintings for decorating the walls

If you don’t know how to “dress up” your walls, try hanging on an abstract painting. It brings freshness to your room. Looking to buy such a painting I’ve stumbled upon an online shop: Paintings Abstract.

The owner, Ann Vierick is from the Philadelphia area. She work out of her home studio creating mostly palette-knife impasto paintings in which she applys lots of thick, rich sculptural texture and layers of color to create interest.

She has sold to many satisfied customers throughout the US, and Internationally through Etsy and Ebay during the last 5 years or so.

Ann discovered her passion for painting and artistic endeavors early on in elementary school. 

„Art was always my favorite class. My love of color and drawing inspired me to paint. Painting is a great way to explore color and it's use for expression. My favorite painter is Matisse. I love the playfulness and simplicity of his worl”– Ann says. 

You cand find in the online store portraits, landscapes and abstract paintings. 

It takes about 1 week to make a custom painting. Customers can get in touch with her by email bablvie@verizon.net.