The 20 Most Expensive Artworks Sold at Auction in 2015

As the global art market pauses for breath after a year of records and prepares for 2016, ARTINFO takes a look at the past 12 months through the lens of the auction market, in particular the 20 most expensive works of art sold at auction (click the slideshow to see the works).

Dominated entirely by Christie’s and Sotheby’s, with Christie’s taking the first five spots and six of the remaining 15, the list has a combined value of $1,484,502,719. Taking a closer look at the top 20 reveals a total of 14 different artists, all of whom are Caucasian and male. It is also interesting to note that all but one of the sales took place in New York, with the exception being the Cy Twombly 1968 blackboard painting, which sold at Sotheby’s London.

The highlight of 2015 was the new world record for the most valuable work of art sold at auction, set by Picasso’s “Les femmes d’Alger (Version “O”),” which sold at Christie’s New York for a staggering $179,365,000.

Sotheby’s wasn’t without its major successes in 2015. The auction house achieved its highest-ever total for a sale of contemporary art in Europe with its July 2015 Contemporary Art Evening Auction in London, which realized £130.4 million.

And although Sotheby’s and Christie’s dominated the top end of the market, Phillips and Bonhams also saw successes in the middle and lower tiers of the market respectively, with both houses setting new records for a number of artists throughout the year.

2015 was also an interesting year for the online art auction scene, with the Berlin-based online auction house Auctionata claiming a new world record for an Asian work of art sold in an online auction, with a rare clock from the late 18th century selling for 3.37 million euros in June.

Click on the slideshow to see the top 20 most expensive works of art sold at auction in 2015. See below for a list the top five most expensive works of art sold by the big four auction houses, as well as the online record-setting sales at Auctionata.

Christie’s

1 $179,365,000 — Pablo Picasso’s “Les femmes d’Alger,” 1955 (sold on May 11 in New York)

2. $170,405,000 — Amedeo Modigliani’s “Nu couché,” 1917-1918 (sold on November 9 in New York)

3. $141,285,000 — Alberto Giacometti’s “L’homme au doigt,” 1947 (sold on May 11 in New York)

4. $95,365,000 — Roy Lichtenstein’s “Nurse,” 1964 (sold on November 9 in New York)

5. $81,925,000 — Mark Rothko’s “No. 10,” 1958 (sold on May 13 in New York)

Sotheby’s

1. $70,530,000 — Cy Twombly’s “Untitled [New York City],” 1968 (sold on November 5 in New York)

2. $67,450,000 — Pablo Picasso’s “La Gommeuse,” 1901 (sold on May 5 in New York)

3. $66,330,000 — Vincent van Gogh’s “L’Allée des Alyscamps,” 1888 (sold on May 5 in New York)

4. $54,010,000 — Claude Monet’s “Nymphéas,” 1905 (sold on May 5 in New York)

5. $54,010,000 — Vincent van Gogh’s “Paysage sous un ciel mouvementé,” 1889 (sold on November 5 in New York)

Phillips

1. $28,165,000 — Francis Bacon’s “Seated Woman,” 1961 (sold on May 15 in New York)

2. $12,042,200 — Cy Twombly’s “Untitled,” 2006 (sold on October 15 in London)

3. $11,365,000 — Willem de Kooning’s “Untitled XXVIII,” 1977 (sold on November 8 in New York)              

4. $9,237,000 — Brice Marden’s “Elements (Hydra),” 1999-2000 / 2001 (sold on May 15 in New York)

5. $6,885,000 — Domenico Gnoli’s “Shirt Collar Size 14 ½” 1969 (sold on May 13 in New York)

Bonhams

1. $4,639,699 — Wang Hui’s 18th century “Album of Landscapes” (sold on May 31 in Hong Kong)

2. $1,565,000 — William Wendt’s “Old Coast Road,” c. 1916 (sold on April 28 in Los Angeles)

3. $1,325,000 — N.C. Wyeth’s “.…Emerging into an opening that appeared to have been formed partly by the ravages of the wind, and partly by those of fire,” 1925 (sold on May 20 in New York)

4. $1,256,341 — Irma Stern’s “Arab in Black,” 1939 (sold on September 9 in London)

5. $1,077,396 — Lemuel Francis Abbott’s “The Portrait of Henry Callender standing in a landscape, in the red coat of Captain General of the Blackheath Golf Club and holding a putter,” c. 1760-1803 (sold on December 9 in London)

Auctionata

1. €3,370,000 (US$3,830,000) — Imperial Immortal Mountain Clock, Guangzhou Workshop, Qianlong (sold on June 20 — record for an Asian work of art sold in an online auction)

2. €875,000 (US$948,998.70) — Blue and White Meiping “Dragon” Vase, Kangxi Mark and Period (sold on December 18)

3. €237,500 (US$266,874.49) — Jusepe de Ribera’s “St.Augustine of Hippo,” c.1636 (sold on June 16)

4. €207,600 (US$235,310.43) — Fernando Botero’s “Naturaleza Muerta,” 1964 (sold on June 19)

5. €168,000 (US$184,567.73) — Marianne v. Werefkin’s “The Bridge,” 1929 (sold on March 25)