Every year, thousands of high-end, “blue chip” paintings are packed into crates and shipped across borders, to cities around the world. But the most expensive paintings with the highest estimations are sent to top-tier financial superpowers.
At this level, art is a financial investment. So, art sellers prioritize profit over convenience. And profit is most often the result of “reach”. So, sellers look for top-tier cities that can provide them the “reach” they need to make the most profit. These top-tier cities have the highest concentration of billionaires. They are financial superpowers.
Art Sellers also look for cities where billionaires purchase high-end art frequently. Why? Because out of hundreds of cities around the world that are home to billionaires and multi-digit millionaires, only three cities have ever reached the “$100 million for an individual painting” milestone through public auctions. These cities are: New York City, Beijing, and London.
As a result, this milestone stands as a critical benchmark for the world’s most serious HNW and UHNW art collectors. This milestone is also important for auction houses, economists, political analysts, art historians, museum curators, elite private art sellers, wealth managers, private bankers, and family office executives. They use information gathered from these blockbuster sales in their own practices.
Here are the paintings that sold for over $100 million USD…
London, United Kingdom
Gustav Klimt’s Dame mit Fächer (Lady with a Fan) sold for £85.3 million ($108 million USD) in 2023
Beijing, China
Qi Baishi’s Twelve Landscape Screens sold for 931.5 million yuan ($140.8 million USD) in 2017
New York City, USA
Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi sold for $450.3 million in 2017
Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer sold for $236.4 million in 2025
Andy Warhol’s Shot Sage Blue Marilyn sold for $195 million in 2022
Jackson Pollock’s Number 7A sold for $181.2 million in 2026
Pablo Picasso’s Les Femmes d’Algiers (Version O) sold for $179.4 million in 2015
Amedeo Modigliani’s Nu Couché sold for $170.4 million in 2015
Amedeo Modigliani’s Nu Couché (sur le Côté Gauche) sold for $157.2 million in 2018
Georges Seurat’s Les Poseuses, Ensemble (Petite version) sold for $149.2 million in 2022
Francis Bacon’s Three Studies of Lucian Freud sold for $142.4 million in 2013
Pablo Picasso’s Femme à la montre sold for $139.3 million in 2023
Paul Cezanne’s La Montagne Sainte-Victoire sold for $137.7 million in 2022
René Magritte’s The Empire of Light sold for $121.2 million in 2024
Edvard Munch’s The Scream sold for $119.9 million in 2012
Vincent Van Gogh’s Verger avec cyprès sold for $117.1 million in 2022
Pablo Picasso’s Young Girl with a Flower Basket sold for $115 million in 2018
Claude Monet’s Meules sold for $110.7 million in 2019
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled sold for $110.5 million in 2017
Pablo Picasso’s Nude, Green Leaves and Bust sold for $106.5 million in 2010
Paul Gaugin’s Maternité II sold for $105.7 million in 2022
Andy Warhol’s Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster) sold for $105.4 million in 2013
Gustav Klimt’s Birch Forest sold for $104.5 million in 2022
Pablo Picasso’s Garçon à la Pipe sold for $104.2 million in 2004
Pablo Picasso’s Femme assise près d’une fenêtre (Marie-Thérèse) sold for $103.4 million in 2021
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Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Salvator Mundi’ | Christie’s
