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Veranda’s list of 19 record-priced paintings spans reported sales from $450 million for Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi to works sold privately or at auction for far lower sums. The figures are not all directly comparable: some have been revised, and the source material provided here does not include details for every painting on the list.
Veranda has published a list of 19 high-priced paintings whose reported sale prices range from $450 million for Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi to other nine-figure transactions. The roundup highlights the scale of private and auction sales, while also showing that some widely reported prices have been disputed or corrected.
The highest figure in the source material is the slightly more than $450 million Christie’s auction price for Salvator Mundi in 2017. The New York Times reported that the buyer was acting for Saudi prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan al-Saud; the source says the painting has since been under the ownership of Saudi Arabia’s culture ministry. The work’s attribution is contested: Veranda says some scholars doubt Leonardo painted the entire picture.
Other listed transactions include Willem de Kooning’s Interchange, acquired by Kenneth C. Griffin for $300 million in 2015, and Paul Cézanne’s The Card Players, bought by Qatar’s royal family for $250 million in 2011. Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer sold for $236.4 million at Sotheby’s on Nov. 18, 2025, according to the report, which says the result set a record for a work of modern art and for a Sotheby’s sale.
The figures do not all have the same evidentiary footing. Gauguin’s Nafea Faa Ipoipo? was initially reported as a $300 million sale, but Veranda says a 2017 lawsuit later revealed the price was $210 million. Other entries in the supplied material include Jackson Pollock’s Number 17A at $200 million, Rembrandt’s The Standard-Bearer at about $198 million, Warhol’s Shot Sage Blue Marilyn at just over $195 million, and Mark Rothko’s No. 6 (Violet, Green and Red) at $186 million.
Why These Sale Prices Matter
The list offers a snapshot of how museum-level paintings can command extraordinary sums through both auction houses and private transactions. Such prices can shape public attention, influence how artworks are discussed and collected, and make provenance and ownership records especially consequential.
But headline values do not provide a complete picture of the art market. The source mixes auction results with private sales and includes a price later corrected through litigation. A ranking based on these figures should be read as a collection of reported transactions, not a uniform measure of current value or proof that every work is securely attributed to the artist named.
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From Auction Rooms to Private Deals
The transactions in Veranda’s list span several decades and different kinds of sales. The Card Players was reportedly purchased by Qatar’s royal family in 2011, while Interchange and Number 17A were acquired from the David Geffen Foundation by Griffin in 2015. Shot Sage Blue Marilyn sold at Christie’s in 2022, and the Dutch government acquired Rembrandt’s The Standard-Bearer from the Rothschild family for €175 million, or about $198 million, in 2022.
The list also touches on questions beyond price. The source describes Salvator Mundi as controversial because of doubts among some scholars about how much of it Leonardo painted. It says a Louvre analysis in 2018 concluded the picture evolved over time, with Leonardo adding the hands and arms later. That account is distinct from the broader dispute over attribution and does not, by itself, settle it.
“The buyer of Salvator Mundi was acting for Saudi prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan al-Saud.”
— The New York Times, as cited by Veranda
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The supplied source material is incomplete: it gives details for only some entries, so the full list of 19 paintings and their sale histories cannot be independently summarized here. It also does not provide a consistent basis for comparing sales across years, currencies, auction results and private deals.
Questions remain around the precise circumstances of some transactions and the attribution of Salvator Mundi. The material does not establish whether all listed prices have been independently verified, whether they include the same fees or adjustments, or whether the paintings’ current ownership and valuations have changed since their reported sales.
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Further Sales May Change Rankings
The list is a retrospective roundup rather than an announcement of a new sale, and the source material names no upcoming auction or next milestone. Future auction results or newly disclosed private-sale details could alter the ranking, while updated scholarship or provenance research could affect how individual works are described. Readers should treat each price as tied to its reported transaction and date, rather than as a current valuation.
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Key Questions
What is the highest-priced painting in the source material?
Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi is listed at slightly more than $450 million after its 2017 Christie’s auction. The source also notes ongoing scholarly doubts about whether Leonardo painted the entire work.
Was Nafea Faa Ipoipo? sold for $300 million?
That price was initially reported, but Veranda says a 2017 lawsuit later revealed a sale price of $210 million.
Which painting in the list sold most recently?
Based on the supplied material, Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer sold at Sotheby’s on Nov. 18, 2025, for $236.4 million.
Are all the prices directly comparable?
No. The figures cover different years, currencies and sale types, including auctions and private transactions. The source does not establish a consistent adjustment for fees, inflation or other differences.
Source: rss
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