Main photo featuring Sotheby's auctioneers, courtesy of Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images
‘The Scream’ by Norwegian expressionist painter Edvard Munch, recently sold at Sotheby’s elite auction for a staggering $119.9 million dollars, setting an all-time world record for the most expensive painting ever sold at auction. The popular painting is one of the most iconic images of our time, being mimicked in silk by Andy Warhol, satirized by the Simpsons and serving as an inspiration for the horror movie Scream.
However, shockingly, even at $119 million dollars, the famed painting is only number eight on the list of top paintings ever sold -- chump change next to the outlandishly large art sales of the last 10 years.
Here is a list of the top five most expensive paintings of all time.
1. Paul Cézanne, The Card Player, $254 million. Sold in 2011 to the Royal Family of Quatar in a private sale.
2. Jackson Pollock, No. 5, 1948, $154.9 million. Sold in 2006 by David Geffen to Anonymous buyer.
3. Willem de Kooning, Woman III, $156.5 million. Sold in 2006 by David Geffen to Steven A. Cohen.
4. Gustav Klimt, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, $152.6 million. Sold in 2006 to Ronald Lauder, and Neue Galerie
5. Vincent Van Gogh, Portrait of Dr. Gachet, $146.5 million. Sold in 1990 to Ryoei Saito.
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