4 of the most expensive paintings in the world, ranked: from Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi bought by Saudi royalty, to Paul Cézanne’s The Card Players – but what about the Mona Lisa?
Hong Kong Art Month has officially kicked off, with the city hosting a variety of events and exhibitions lasting into early April. This is all arguably built around to the main event, Art Basel Hong Kong, which is back in full swing after a low-key comeback last year. With public days taking place between March 28 to 30 at the Hong Kong Convention Exhibition and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC), the 2024 fair is due to exhibit 243 premier galleries from 40 countries.
As the city becomes the art capital of the world at this time, we round up some of the most expensive paintings ever for your viewing pleasure. Some pieces are on display to the public in glitzy museums, while others are hidden away in private collections.
4. Paul Cézanne’s The Card Players
Estimated price: US$250 million
The Card Players is a series of oil paintings by French artist Paul Cézanne depicting Provençal peasants immersed in a card game, reflecting his interest in portraying everyday life with simplicity and solidity.
He created five paintings in the series during the 1890s. One of these was sold for an estimated US$250 million to Qatar’s royal family in 2011, making it one of the most expensive paintings to ever be sold, according to Forbes.
3. Paul Gauguin’s When Will You Marry?
Estimated price: US$300 million
Paul Gauguin named his painting When Will You Marry? for the translation of a Tahitian phrase nafea faa ipoipo. The French artist completed it in 1892 during a stay on the South Pacific island. This vivid artwork, which sold for an estimated US$300 million in a private sale to a Swiss collector in 2015, per The New York Times, was rumoured to have been bought for the state-owned Qatar Museums, according to an ArtNet report.
It features two Tahitian women against a luscious landscape backdrop, embodying the artist’s fascination with the Tahitian culture and landscape.
2. Willem de Kooning’s Interchange
Estimated price: US$300 million
Interchange, an abstract expressionist piece by New York School painter Willem de Kooning, was sold by David Geffen to Kenneth C. Griffin, the CEO of hedge fund Citadel, in September 2015.
The painting set the buyer back US$300 million, according to World Art News, making it the most valuable modern artwork in the world. It’s currently at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida, where the public can admire De Kooning’s dynamic expressionist style.
1. Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi
Estimated price: US$450 million
Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, depicting Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the World (the painting’s English title), sold at a Christie’s auction in New York in 2017 for US$450 million, making it the most expensive artwork to be auctioned in the world.
Purchased by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, it went on display at the Louvre Abu Dhabi. The painting caused a worldwide media sensation following its rediscovery in 2005, 200 years after its disappearance. It has also been the subject of much debate in the art world, prompting questions about whether it’s an original Da Vinci artwork or if it belongs to one of his students and he merely contributed to it.
But what about Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa?
Estimated value: US$870 million
If you’re surprised that Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa doesn’t command the highest sale price, there’s good reason that that isn’t the case.
In 2023, international media spoke of the grand dame of all paintings and what it would be worth that year, after converting its insurance valuation of US$100 million in 1962.
The Mona Lisa, part of the Louvre Museum collection in Paris since 1804 and both the most famous and most expensive painting in the world, would be worth US$860 million today, it was widely estimated.
But as the painting belongs to the French people by law, it would be extremely difficult for it to ever be sold, meaning it is nearly impossible to place an exact actual value on the painting.
While some believe it’s worth millions, others think it’s priceless.
