The results of the 2025 auction year showed a confident market recovery after a relative decline. The aggregate sum of the ten most expensive lots reached $757 million – the best result since 2022. A significant portion of the success belongs to three major houses – Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips, which were able to offer lots from famous collections to potential buyers. Several positions on the list are occupied by paintings from the collections of Leonard Lauder, as well as Robert and Patricia Weiss, sold at the November auctions in New York.
It can be said that the 2025 auction year was marked by the triumph of Gustav Klimt, with three of his works topping the rating. The historical record for works by female artists was also broken, now held by Frida Kahlo. The price level for works by Vincent van Gogh, Mark Rothko, and Jean-Michel Basquiat confirmed the stable demand for classic modernism and post-war art.
The Top 10 Most Expensive Auction Lots of 2025 are as follows:
Gustav Klimt.
“Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer”.
1914–1916
$236.4 million. It became the second most expensive painting ever sold at public auction, second only to da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi.” Rumor has it that the painting was purchased for the Abu Dhabi museum by the President of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Gustav Klimt.
“Blooming Meadow”.
1908
$86 million, given by the new owner of the innovative square-format landscape, is the second highest price for a landscape work by the Austrian modernist artist.
Gustav Klimt.
“Forest Slope in Unterach am Attersee.”
1916
$68.3 million. This is the first Klimt work in Leonard Lauder’s collection and the last surviving landscape painted by the artist while vacationing on Lake Attersee.
Vincent van Gogh.
“Stacks of Parisian Novels and Roses in a Glass.”
1888
The painting, depicting the interior of the artist’s brother’s apartment, sold for $62.7 million, almost doubling the previous record for works from the Parisian period of his work.
Mark Rothko.
“No. 31 (Yellow Stripe).”
1958
Christie’s. $62.2 million.
Frida Kahlo.
“Dream (The Bed).”
1940
$54.7 million. The lot from the collection of Selma and Nesuhi Ertegun broke the record, held for more than 10 years, for works by female artists, previously belonging to Georgia O’Keeffe’s “Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1.”
Jean-Michel Basquiat.
“Crowns (Peso Neto).”
1981
The iconic work, painted by the artist on Christmas night, was sold at Sotheby’s for $48.3 million.
Piet Mondrian.
“Composition with Red, Bluish-Gray, Black, Yellow and Blue.”
1922
Christie’s. $47.6 million.
Pablo Picasso.
“Reading (Marie-Thérèse).”
1932
Christie’s. $45.5 million.
Claude Monet.
“Water Lilies.”
1907
Christie’s. $45.5 million. The painting from the collection of the Kawamura Memorial Museum in Sakura, Japan, which closed in the spring, was put up for sale to cover the multi-million dollar debts of its founders, but did not reach the lower limit of the estimate.
