At the start of 2025, Barnebys predicted that carefully curated single-owner collections featuring top-quality works would remain in high demand. The ten most expensive paintings sold at auction this year bear this out. While New York’s May marquee sales week fell short of expectations, with only one work from this list offered at that time, the market regained momentum in November. High-profile collections returned to the auction block, all ten of the year’s top results were achieved in New York, and the season ended on a strong note.
10. Pablo Picasso, La lecture (Marie-Thérèse), 1932
After securing his second-highest auction result in 2023, Picasso was absent from the top ten last year. In 2025, he returned with La lecture (Marie-Thérèse), a portrait of his partner and muse Marie-Thérèse Walter. The painting formed part of the collection of Robert F. and Patricia G. Ross Weis and was sold at Christie’s on November 17 for $45,485,000.
9. Claude Monet, Nymphéas, 1907
Claude Monet’s water lilies and haystacks continue to dominate the upper end of the auction market. This year, Nymphéas from 1907 matched Picasso’s result exactly, selling for $45,485,000. The painting was consigned by the Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art in Sakura, Japan, which released several works following its closure and collection reduction.
8. Piet Mondrian, Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black and Blue, 1922
Despite his central place in modern art history, Piet Mondrian had never previously appeared in an annual top ten auction ranking. That changed in 2025, when this 1922 composition sold for $47,560,000 at Christie’s in May. The work came from the collection of Leonard and Louise Riggio. While the price did not set a new record for the artist, it secured Mondrian’s first entry into the top ten.
7. Jean-Michel Basquiat, Crowns (Peso Neto), 1981
Jean-Michel Basquiat has appeared in the annual top ten every year since 2021, and 2025 was no exception. Crowns (Peso Neto), painted in 1981, sold for $48,335,000 at Sotheby's on November 18. Consigned from a major European private collection, it was the leading lot of the 'Now and Contemporary Evening Auction'.
See also: The Basquiat Boom: His 5 Most Expensive Paintings
6. Frida Kahlo, El sueño (La cama), 1940
Frida Kahlo entered the top ten for the first time in 2025. Her 1940 painting El sueño (La cama) was sold at Sotheby’s on November 20 during the 'Exquisite Corpus Evening Auction' for $54,660,000. The result established Kahlo as the most expensive female artist at auction, surpassing Georgia O’Keeffe’s long-standing record.
See also: Frida Kahlo Becomes the World’s Most Expensive Female Artist
5. Mark Rothko, No. 31 (Yellow Stripe), 1958
Another highlight from the Ross Weis collection was Mark Rothko’s No. 31 (Yellow Stripe) from 1958. Sold at Christie’s on November 17 for $62,160,000, the painting ranks among the artist’s most expensive works at auction. Rothko has appeared in the annual top ten consistently since 2019, with only one absence.
4. Vincent van Gogh, Piles de romans parisiens et roses dans une verre (Romans parisiens), 1887
Sotheby’s devoted a dedicated evening sale on November 20 to the collection of Cindy and Jay Pritzker. The top lot was Van Gogh’s still life Piles de romans parisiens et roses dans une verre ('Parisian Novels'), painted in Paris in 1887. The work sold for $62,710,000, making it one of the most expensive paintings by the artist ever auctioned.
3. Gustav Klimt, Waldabhang bei Unterach am Attersee, 1916
The most closely watched auction of the season was the sale of works from the collection of Leonard A. Lauder, which took place on November 18. Among its highlights was Gustav Klimt’s Waldabhang bei Unterach am Attersee ('Forest Slope in Unterach on the Attersee') from 1916. The landscape sold for $68,320,000, securing third place in the annual ranking.
2. Gustav Klimt, Blumenwiese, um 1908
Klimt was represented twice at the Lauder sale. Blumenwiese ('Blooming Meadow'), painted around 1908, exceeded the price of the previous lot and sold for $86,000,000. Demand for Klimt’s work has intensified in recent years, and he has now appeared multiple times at the top end of annual auction rankings.
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1. Gustav Klimt, Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer, 1914-16
On November 18, 2025, Gustav Klimt achieved an unprecedented result. His Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer, painted between 1914 and 1916 and long regarded as the centrepiece of the Lauder Collection, sold after intense bidding for $236,360,000. The sale made it the most expensive work by Klimt, the most expensive modern painting sold at auction, and the second most expensive painting ever auctioned. It also marked the first time a single artist accounted for the three highest-priced paintings in one auction year.
