The most expensive artists in the world

Every year, the Artprice portal publishes a list of the most expensive artists in the world, whose works are sold at auctions for mind-boggling sums. As a rule, this rating includes the names of famous painters and sculptors, whose prices for works can make you dizzy. The top ten of the Artprcie ranking included such masters as Claude Monet, Qi Baishi, Alberto Giacometti, and Jeff Koons. In 2014, the works of the ten most expensive artists and sculptors were sold at auction for a whopping $2.7 billion. The most expensive work, the sculpture "Chariot" by Giacometti, went under the hammer for $ 90 million. Want to know who was in the top five most expensive artists in the world? Read our post.

10 PHOTOS

1. The fifth place among the most expensive artists in the world is occupied by Mark Rothko - an American artist, a representative of abstract expressionism, and also the creator of "color field painting". Last year, his works were sold at auction for a total of 249.2 million dollars, and the most expensive of them went under the hammer for 59 million dollars. (Photo: Getty Images).

2. The most expensive painting by Mark Rothko is "Orange, Red, Yellow" (pictured), which was sold at Christie's in May 2012 for $77.5 million. (Photo: Jeremy Yoder/flickr.com).

3. Fourth place in the ranking was taken by Gerhard Richter - this is the only living artist who was in the top five of the most expensive masters in the world. He surprises not so much with a high position in the ranking, but with his work, which is generally difficult to classify. Therefore, it is not surprising that his works are very popular and are sold at auctions for ever higher amounts. (Photo: Getty Images).

4. In 2014, a total of 258 works by Gerhard Richter were sold for a total value of $254.3 million. His most expensive work was the 1989 Abstraktes Bild (pictured), which sold for $28.7 million at Christie's in February.

5. The third place among the most expensive artists in the world was taken by Francis Bacon, an Irish self-taught artist. Last year, 122 paintings were sold for $270 million. (Photo: Getty Images).

6. The most expensive painting by Francis Bacon was the triptych Three Sketches for a Portrait of Lucian Freud (1969), which went under the hammer in 2013 for $142.4 million. It is currently the most expensive piece of art in the history of the auction market. (Photo: Garrett Bithell/flickr.com).

7. In second place in the ranking of the most expensive artists in the world is Pablo Picasso, whose works were sold last year in the amount of 375 million dollars. (Photo: Getty Images).

8. The most expensive work of Pablo Picasso and the third on the list of the most expensive paintings in the world, is "Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust" (pictured) in 1932, sold in 2010 for 106.5 million dollars. (Photo: James R fauxtoes/flickr.com).

9. The most expensive artist in the world in 2014 was Andy Warhol. His paintings have been sold for $569.5 million. For comparison, such a volume of sales could not be achieved last year throughout the French auction market of works of art. (Photo: Getty Images).

10. In 2014, Andy Warhol's most expensive painting was Triple Elvis (1963), which sold at auction for $81.9 million. (Photo: lar3/flickr.com).