List of most expensive artworks by living artists

This is a list of the most expensive pieces of art made by artists that are still alive.

The highest price for a piece of art by a living artist was for Jasper Johns's 1958 painting Flag. It was sold privately for what is thought to be $110 million USD ($137 million in 2021 dollars).^[1]

All-time

This is a list of highest prices paid for an artist when they were living when the sale happened.

Adjusted price (in millions of USD)	Original price (in millions of USD)	Work	Artist	Date	Venue	Ref.
137	110	Flag	Jasper Johns	2010	Private sale	[1]
131	100	For the Love of God	Damien Hirst	August 2007	Private sale	[2]
97	91.1	Rabbit	Jeff Koons	May 2019	Christie's	[3][4]
97	90.3	Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)	David Hockney	November 2018	Christie's	[5]
108	80	False Start	Jasper Johns	October 2006	Private sale	[6]
62	62	The Journey of Humanity	Sacha Jafri	March 2021	Humanity Inspired Royal Charity Auction, Dubai[note 1]	[7][8]
68	58.4	Balloon Dog	Jeff Koons	November 2013	Christie's	[9]

History of sales records

This is a list of the most expensive pieces of art at the time in an auction by a living artist.

Adjusted price (in millions of USD)	Original price (in millions of USD)	Work	Artist	Date	Auction house	Ref.
91.82	91.1	Rabbit	Jeff Koons	May 2019	Christie's	[3][4]
92.48	90.3	Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)	David Hockney	November 2018	Christie's	[5]
64.68	58.4	Balloon Dog (Orange)	Jeff Koons	November 2013	Christie's	[9]
41.11	37.1	Domplatz, Mailand	Gerhard Richter	May 2013	Sotheby's	[10]
38.16	34.2	Abstraktes Bild (809-4) (1994)	Gerhard Richter	October 2012	Sotheby's	[11]
40.03	33.6	Benefits Supervisor Sleeping	Lucian Freud	May 2008	Christie's	[12]
28.98	23.6	Hanging Heart (Magenta/Gold)	Jeff Koons	November 2007	Sotheby's	[13]
23.91	19.3	Lullaby Spring	Damien Hirst	June 2007	Sotheby's	[2]
36.48	17	False Start	Jasper Johns	November 1988	Sotheby's	[14]
15.02	7	White Flag	Jasper Johns	November 1988	Christie's	[15]
9.18	4.18	Diver	Jasper Johns	May 1988	Christie's	[16]
8.28	3.63 (tied)	Pink Lady	Willem de Kooning	May 1987	Sotheby's	[17]
8.49	3.63 (tied)	Out the Window	Jasper Johns	November 1986	Sotheby's	[18]
3.23	1.2	Two Women	Willem de Kooning	May 1982	Christie's	[19]
2.19	0.8	L'Enigme du Desir/Ma Mere, Ma Mere, Ma Mere	Salvador Dalí	March 1982	Christie's	[20]
4.13	0.53	Mother and Child	Pablo Picasso	April 1967	Sotheby's	[21][22]
1.88	0.22	Death of Harlequin/Woman in a Garden	Pablo Picasso	1962	Sotheby's	[23][24]
1.34	0.15 (tied)	La Belle Hollandaise	Pablo Picasso	May 1959	Sotheby's	[25][26]
1.34	0.15 (tied)	Mother and Child	Pablo Picasso	November 1958	Sotheby's	[27]
	0.066	Friedland, 1807	Ernest Meissonier	March 1887	Stewart estate sale	[28][29]
	0.045	Les Communiantes	Jules Breton	May 1886	Mary J. Morgan estate sale	[30][31]

References

1. Vogel, Carol (March 18, 2010). "Planting a Johns 'Flag' in a Private Collection". The New York Times.
2. Holmes, Pernilla (October 1, 2007). "The Branding of Damien Hirst". ARTnews. Archived from the original on June 1, 2016. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
3. Reyburn, Scott (May 16, 2019). "Jeff Koons Rabbit Sets Auction Record for Most Expensive Work by Living Artist". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
4. "The 10 Moments That Defined Art in the 2010s". Artsy. December 16, 2019. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
5. Reyburn, Scott; Pogrebin, Robin (November 16, 2018). "David Hockney Painting Sells for $90 Million, Smashing Record for Living Artist". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on April 3, 2019. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
6. Vogel, Carol (October 12, 2006). "Works by Johns and de Kooning Sell for $143.5 Million". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
7. British artist sells world's largest painting The Journey of Humanity for $62m, The Guardian, March 22, 2021
8. Sophie Prideaux, World's largest painting created in Dubai by Sacha Jafri sells for record-breaking $62 million, The National, March 23, 2021
9. Vogel, Carol (October 19, 2018). "At $142.4 Million, Triptych Is the Most Expensive Artwork Ever Sold at an Auction". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on April 1, 2019. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
10. "Richter painting breaks record". BBC News. May 15, 2013. Archived from the original on April 25, 2019. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
11. Ng, David (October 15, 2012). "Gerhard Richter painting owned by Eric Clapton sets auction record". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Archived from the original on May 16, 2019. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
12. Gelder, Lawrence Van (May 19, 2008). "The Mystery Art Buyer". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on May 7, 2019. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
13. Gleadell, Colin (November 26, 2007). "Sothebys Scores Its Highest-Ever $316M Contemporary Auction". ARTnews. Archived from the original on November 20, 2018. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
14. Reif, Rita (November 11, 1988). "Jasper Johns Painting Is Sold for $17 Million". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on April 2, 2019. Retrieved May 16, 2019. Johns's 'False Start' was sold for $10 million more than his White Flag had brought at Christie's, establishing a new high for a work by a living artist.
15. Reif, Rita (November 10, 1988). "Johns's 'White Flag' Is Sold for Record Price". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved May 16, 2019. Jasper Johns's ghostlike 'White Flag,' ... was sold last night at Christie's for $7 million, the highest price ever paid for a work by a living artist.
16. "Buyer of Johns Painting". The New York Times. May 9, 1988. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on May 25, 2015. Retrieved May 16, 2019. ... Jasper Johns's fiercely compelling Diver, from 1962, which brought $4.2 million last Tuesday at Christie's, ... was an auction record for a work by any living artist.
17. Reif, Rita (May 5, 1987). "De Kooning Painting Ties Auction Record". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Willem de Kooning's 'Pink Lady' from 1944 tied the record at auction for a contemporary painting and for a work by a living artist when it was sold last night for $3.63 million at Sotheby's.
18. Reif, Rita (November 11, 1986). "Jasper Johns Painting Brings Record Price". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Jasper Johns's boldly colored and Expressionistic 'Out the Window,' from 1959, was sold last night for the highest price ever paid at auction for a work by a living artist ...
19. Carter, E. Graydon (May 23, 1983). "People". Time. Vol. 121, no. 21. p. 51. ISSN 0040-781X – via EBSCOhost. At Christie's in New York City last week, the house applauded enthusiastically as the gavel went down on Abstract Expressionist Willem de Kooning's Two Women. Reason: a price of $1.2 million, the most money paid for a work by a living artist.
20. "Dali's 'Mere' Sets Auction Record". The New York Times. March 31, 1982. ISSN 0362-4331. Christie's, the auctioneer, said the price for 'Ma Mere,' French for 'My Mother,' was a record auction figure for a living artist.
21. "Picasso Brings Record $532,000; Price at Sotheby's Is Highest for Work by Living Artist". The New York Times. April 27, 1967. pp. 1, 19. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 27, 2019. A Picasso painting brought the highest price ever paid for a work by a living artist. ... At Sotheby & Co., $532,000 was paid for an early Picasso, a 1902 'Mother and Child,' of the artist's Blue Period. ... The Picasso ran far ahead of the former record-holder, 'Death of Harlequin,' which brought $198,000 at Sotheby's in 1962. ... It was pointed out that possibly more may have been paid at a private sale for a work by the Spanish master.
22. "Price of a Picasso". Time Magazine. 89 (18): 60. May 5, 1967. ISSN 0040-781X. At Sotheby's auction house last week, Picasso's down-and-out souvenir, Mother and Child by the Sea, brought the highest price ever paid for a work by a living artist: $532,000, more than double the previous record, also held by Picasso, whose Death of Harlequin sold in 1962 for $224,000.
23. Reif, Rita (August 8, 1989). "42 Artworks Collected by Paul Mellon to Be Sold". The New York Times. p. 53. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 27, 2019. Picasso's 'Death of Harlequin' from 1905 sold for $224,000, a record at auction for a work by a living artist, at a much publicized 1962 auction of W. Somerset Maugham's collection at Sotheby's in London.
24. "Master Auctioneer". Time Magazine. 79 (16): 76. April 20, 1962. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved December 27, 2019. The 35 paintings went for $1,466,864, including $244,000—the highest price ever paid at auction for a living artist—for a Picasso curiosity that showed The Death of Harlequin on one side and Woman Seated in a Garden on the other.
25. "In Our Pages: 100, 75, 50 Years Ago". The New York Times. May 6, 2009. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 27, 2019. A painting of a nude Dutch girl ... was auctioned off here today for £55,000 ($154,000) — the highest bid ever made anywhere for the work of a living artist. ... 'La Belle Hollandaise,' ... The latest sale bested the record brought by another Picasso, 'Mother and Child,' according to Sotheby's.
26. "Auction Records Broken in London: A Picasso Sold for £55, 000." Illustrated London News, May 16, 1959, p. 835. Gale HN3100388967 "... 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.
27. Saarinen, Aline B. (1958-11-20). "Auction of Art Brings $1,548,500: 1903 Picasso Sells for $152,000—Gallery Filled by 2,000". The New York Times. p. 1. ISSN 0362-4331. ProQuest 114520684. The top price of $152,000 was paid... for a 1903 Picasso, 'Mother and Child.' It is a record price for a Picasso sold at auction.
28. M'Cormick, William B. (July 1913). "The Million Dollar Picture: Will It Ever Arrive?". Arts & Decoration. 3 (9): 306–307. In 1887 the world of art was astonished when Judge Hilton, of New York City, paid $66,000 for Meissonier's Friedland—1807, at the sale of the A. T. Stewart collection in Chickering Hall. That was the highest price ever paid for a painting at public sale anywhere in the world up to that time.
29. Tyrrell, Henry (September 1908). "Bulling the Art Market: Million Dollars Worth of Meissoniers". The Scrap Book. 6 (3): 438.
30. Lettres, 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"
31. 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."

Notelist

1. The auction was organized in partnership with UNICEF, UNESCO, Ministry of Education of the United Arab Emirates, and the Global Gift Foundation.