When I was gathering data for writing this article, the references were pretty stable. The prices reached at auction were rising in a regular way but it was hard to surpass the record established two years ago, when a painting by Picasso was sold for 104 million dollars, putting it at the head of the list. Before finalizing the definite order and after checking different sources, everything became incongruous.
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It is common knowledge that during the past two decades some works of famous painters have brought the highest prices in history. This is the case of Boy with Pipe, by Picasso (over 104 million USD), Portrait of Dr. Gachet, by Van Gogh (82.5 million USD, in 1990), Still Life with Curtain, Jug and Compote Bowl, by Cézanne (60.5 million dollars, in 1999), and recently The Massacre of the Innocents, by Rubens (auctioned at 49.5 million £).