Not only did six of the ten most expensive artist works of the 2022 auction year come from a single auction, six of them also broke the $100 million mark. Only one painting did that last year: Femme assise près d'une fenêtre (Marie-Thérèse) by Pablo Picasso, who doesn't even appear in this year's top 10. Explore the 10 paintings here:
10. René Magritte, L'Empire des Lumières , 1961
Related: René Magritte: Bowler Hats with Belgitude
Number 10 on this list takes us back to March 2022, when in London, Sotheby's had the honor of offering an absolutely seminal surrealist masterpiece that made its auction debut: René Magritte's L'Empire des lumières, which the artist painted in 1961 for the daughter of his patron, Pierre Crowet. The estimate of $60 million was significantly higher than Magritte's previous auction record ($26.8 million). The winner of the eight-minute bidding war ended up taking it home for £59.4 million (about $71 million). The result was not only a record for Magritte, but also the highest sum ever paid in pounds sterling for a painting in Europe.
9. Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled , 1982
Measuring 238.7 x 500.4 cm, Untitled from 1982 is one of the largest canvases by Jean-Michel Basquiat, who painted this important work of his career during a stay in Modena, Italy. At the time, Basquiat was in the transition from street artist to studio artist and was beginning to actually sell his works. In Untitled, Basquiat portrayed himself as a devil who is about to turn the existing codes of art upside down. When Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa bought it from Christie's for $57.3 million in 2016, it became Basquiat's most expensive work in auction history. Over the years it has fallen to number three, where it remains after it was re-auctioned at Phillips in New York in May 2022 for $85 million.
Related: The Basquiat Boom: His 5 Most Expensive Paintings
8. Andy Warhol, White Disaster (White Car Crash 19 Times) , 1963
Andy Warhol's White Disaster (White Car Crash 19 Times) fetched a slightly higher sum, $85.4 million, when it went under the hammer at Sotheby's Contemporary Evening Auction in November. The work was created in 1963 as part of the Death and Disaster series, in which Warhol explored his fascination with human mortality and explored the connections between celebrity, tragedy, fame and death. White Disaster (White Car Crash 19 Times) is the largest work in the series and the second most expensive work after Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster), which sold at Sotheby's in 2013 for $104.5 million.
Related: Andy Warhol: The Pope of Pop
7. Lucian Freud, Large Interior, W11 (after Watteau) , 1981-83
With Large Interior, W11 (after Watteau) by Lucian Freud, we now have before us the first painting from the aforementioned super auction, which broke all records at the beginning of November: the auction of Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen's collection at Christie's in New York that raised a total of $1.6 billion. Allen bought Freud's work at Sotheby's in 1998 for $5.8 million, which was a new artist record at the time. The Large Interior, W11 (after Watteau). created in 1981-83, was able to repeat this success, but at a much higher price of $86.3 million.
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6. Gustav Klimt, Birch Forest , 1903
At number 6 on this list, we meet one of the main representatives of the Vienna Secession, the great Gustav Klimt. The 1903 Birkenwald (Birch Forest) also managed to repeat its world record when it found a new owner for $104.6 million. It last gave Klimt an artist record in 2006 when it was sold to Paul G. Allen for $33 million. However, the $104.6 million is only the auction record for Gustav Klimt: his two portraits of Adele Bloch-Bauer achieved $135 million (Adele Bloch-Bauer I) and $150 million (Adele Bloch-Bauer II) in private sales in 2006 and 2016.
Related: Gustav Klimt: Artist of Emotion and Eroticism
5. Paul Gauguin, Maternity II , 1899
The same year that Gustav Klimt painted his Birch Forest, fellow artist Paul Gauguin died on the other side of the world, more precisely on the island of Hiva Oa in the South Pacific, where he had settled permanently two years earlier. Four months after Gauguin's passing, the Maternité II sales story began when the artist's estate was sold in Tahiti's capital, Papeete. The 1899 work made its way first to Paris and then to the United States, where Paul G. Allen acquired it in New York in 2004. And yes, Maternité II also achieved an artist record back then and again now, achieving $105.7 million.
Related: Paul Gauguin: The Lost Innocence
4. Vincent van Gogh, Verger avec cyprès, Arles , 1888
With the sale of the almost pointillist painting Verger avec cyprès (Orchard with Cypresses) from 1888, Vincent van Gogh has now joined the group of artists whose works have achieved a nine-figure sum on the auction market. The work fetched $117.2 million at the Paul G. Allen Collection auction. The lightness of the brushwork and the choice of colors testify to the optimism that pervaded van Gogh in April 1888, when he was living in Arles in southern France. He had the idea of founding a kind of artist colony there, but only Paul Gauguin followed his call – after a few requests. Gauguin's visit ended in an argument and with the mysterious loss of van Gogh's left ear.
Related: Vincent van Gogh: The Myth of the Tortured Artist
3. Paul Cézanne, La montagne Sainte-Victoire , 1888-90
The south of France and the Paul G. Allen Collection seem to have been an unbeatable combination, as Paul Cézanne's work La montagne Sainte-Victoire is also part of this list and a record work for its creator: $137.8 million was paid for it, more than doubling Cézanne's previous auction record. The Sainte-Victoire mountain range, located near Cézanne's birthplace of Aix-en-Provence, served as a motif for the artist repeatedly. Picasso, whose Cubism had been influenced by Cézanne's art, also had a residence in later years at the Chateau Vauvenargues, from which he could enjoy the view of the Montagne Sainte-Victoire.
Related: 10 Record-Breaking Artworks and Who Bought Them
2. Georges Seurat, Les Poseuses, Ensemble (Petite version) , 1888
Georges Seurat's 1888 pointillist Les Poseuses, Ensemble (Petite version) sold for the highest price in the Paul G. Allen sale: $149.2 million dollars was achieved - a record for the artist, of course. Paul G. Allen bought the painting from a private collector in 1999. Les Poseuses, Ensemble (Petite version) was last offered on the auction market in 1970 at Christie's in London, where it fetched just over $1 million, a world record price for Seurat at the time (still a long way from the new record, even if inflation is factored in). What makes the painting, measuring only 39.3 x 50 cm, so desirable is the fact that Seurat depicted part of his 1885 masterpiece A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, which is housed in the Art Institute of Chicago.
1. Andy Warhol, Shot Sage Blue Marilyn , 1964
Related: Marilyn Monroe and the Camera: A Love Story
Despite all the artworks at the Paul G. Allen auction that achieved astounding prices, they were beaten, however, by a work of art that unites two icons: Andy Warhol and Marilyn Monroe. Ahead of the Christie's auction in May, the 1964 Shot Sage Blue Marilyn set a new record with its $200 million estimate, the highest in auction history. And indeed, it came close to hitting that figure, with a $195.04 million price tag, making it not only the most expensive work of art by Andy Warhol and of 2022, but also the most expensive work of 20th century art and the second most expensive in auction history.
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