Most expensive paintings ever sold at auction
Pablo Picasso's "Les Femmes d'Alger (Version O)" became the most expensive art ever sold at auction for the staggering price of $179 million on May 11, 2015... topping a list of paintings by illustrious international artists.
The Christie's New York auctioneer Jussi Pylkkänen, who sold the painting, referred to the work as "the Mozart of 20th-century painting."
By CBSNews.com Senior Photo Editor Radhika Chalasani
No. 1 - "Les Femmes d'Alger", Picasso
Auctioneer Jussi Pylkkanen takes bids on Pablo Picasso's "Women of Algiers (Version O)," which sold for just over $179 million, setting a world record for art at auction during a sale at Christie's, New York, May 11, 2015.
No. 1 - O'Keeffe - Priciest female artist
Georgia O'Keeffe's 1932 "Jimson Weed, White Flower No. 1," smashed records May 20, 2015 when it sold for $44.4 million to an anonymous buyer -- a price three times larger than the previous auction record for a female artist. Joan Mitchell held the title for highest-selling female artist for an untitled 1960 painting at $11.9 million.
O'Keefe's painting depicts one of the artist's favorite subjects: a magnified flower. O'Keeffe said, "When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else."
No. 2 - “Nu Couché”
Amedeo Modigiani's "Nu Couché" sold for $170.4 million with fees November 9, 2015 at Christie's New York in just nine minutes.
Originally estimated at $100 million, it became the second most expensive painting sold at auction. The buyer from China placed the bid by phone.
No. 3 - "Three Studies of Lucian Freud"
Painted by Francis Bacon in 1969, the life-size triptych "Three Studies of Lucian Freud" depicts Bacon's friend Lucian Freud on a wooden chair. Bacon is one of the greatest modern artists of the mid-20th century.
The painting was part of the Christie's, New York sale of post-war and contemporary art auction on November 12, 2013, and was estimated at $85 million.
However, a bidding war between seven buyers ultimately pushed the sale price up to $142.4 million.
No. 4 - "The Scream", Edvard Munch
Norwegian artist Edvard Munch's 1895 pastel on board version of "The Scream" is one of the greatest expressionist masterpieces of all time. Until "Les Femmes d'Algers" made headlines, it was the most expensive painting ever sold at auction, going for $119.9 million at Sotheby's New York in 2012.
"The Scream" is also the most expensive pastel drawing. It's been described as an 'expression of personal suffering' because of the artist's tragic family history, which included a sister kept in an asylum, where screams could reportedly be heard outside.
Three other versions of the painting exist.
No. 4 - "The Scream", Edvard Much
Edvard Munch's 'The Scream' is auctioned at Sotheby's May 2012 Sales of Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary Art in New York City, May 2, 2012. The masterpiece is one of four versions created by Munch and the only one that is privately owned. The masterpiece sold for over $119 million.
No. 5 - "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust"
Pablo Picasso's 1932 "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust", estimated at $70 million to 90 million prior to sale, sold for $106.5 million at Christie's in New York inMay 4, 2010.
The painting is known as the 'lost Picasso' since it hadn't been seen in public for 60 years. It had previously changed hands back in 1951 for a mere $18,000.
No. 6 - "Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster)
The 1963 two panel "Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster)" by Andy Warhol, sold for $105.4 million at Sotheby's New York in 2013. It is the last in a series of four pieces depicting a car crash. The left side is a set of 15 photos of a car accident. The right side is a large silver rectangle.
It surpassed Warhol's previous auction record for Pop Art ("Green Car Crash, 1963) by $30 million.
Here, the artwork is on display during a press preview of the auction of contemporary art, at Sotheby's in New York, November 1, 2013. The painting has only been seen once in public since 1987 and was sold to an unknown buyer.
No. 7 - "Garcon a la Pipe", Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso's "Garcon a la Pipe" reached it's $104.2 million price tag in just seven minutes of bidding at Soethby's New York in 2004, a record price for a Picasso until it was surpassed by the sale of "Les Femmes D'Alger".
Here, two Sotheby's employees hold up "Garcon a la Pipe" May 5, 2004 during the auction.
The great master, Picasso has four paintings in the top 10 list which makes him perhaps one of the most valuable twentieth century painters of all time to date.
No. 8 - "Nurse"
The 1964 pop art creation "Nurse" by American artist Roy Lichtenstein sold for $95.4 million at a Christie's New York, part of a curated sale The Artist's Muse on November 9, 2015. It was a record for the Pop artist.
The masterpiece, with the artist's signature Ben-Day dots, was painted at the height of Lichtenstein's career. The auction house described the subject as a "quintessential Lichtenstein heroine" borrowed from a comic romance novel of the early 1960s.
The comic book-style painting previously sold at auction for $1.7 million in 1995.
No. 9 - "Dora Maar with Cat",
"Dora Maar with Cat," one of the largest and most important portraits of Picasso's mistress and muse, was painted in 1941.
Estimated at $50 million, it sold for $95.2 million, making it the second most expensive painting sold by an auction house in the history of art. It hadn't been shown to the public for almost 40 years.
No. 10 - "Adele Bloch-bauer II", Klimt
Gustav Klimt's "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II," painted in 1912, sold at auction in 2006 for $87.9 million. It is one of two well-known versions; the first version had a gold backdrop. Klimt is considered one of the best portrait artists of pre-war Europe.
Here, Christie's staff work the phones and take bids as an image of Gustav Klimt's "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II" is projected on the screen during the Christie's Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale in New York, November 8, 2006. The painting sold for $87,936,000.
No. 11 - "Orange, Red, Yellow", Rothko
Mark Rothko's "Orange, Red, Yellow" sold at a Christie's, New York auction in 2012 for $86.9 million, rendering it the most expensive abstract painting by a 20th century painter.
No. 12 - "Triptych", Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon's 1976 "Triptych" had a pre-sale estimate of $70 million, but ultimately sold for $86.3 million in 2008 at a Sotheby's New York Contemporary Art Sale.
The painting is considered one of Bacon's most complex and creative.