A Gustav Klimt painting just sold for the highest amount ever paid for a painting.. 135 million. His 1907 masterpiece, the gold-flecked portrait of Vienna aristocrat Adele Bloch-Bauer,(below), sold to Ronald S. Lauder, cosmetics magnate and founder of the Neue Galerie museum in Manhattan.The last highest paid painting was Picasso's 1905 "Boy With a Pipe" which sold two years ago in an auction at Sotheby's for $104 million.
There are 4 more Klimt paintings heading to Christies for sale this fall, each worth an estimated 100 million. My fav is the other portrait of Adele, Adele Bosch-Bauer2, (above). The other 3 paintings are landscapes.
List of the 10 most expensive paintings from Wikipedia
Most of the world's most famous paintings are owned by museums, which very rarely sell them. As such, they are quite literally priceless; if a painting like the Mona Lisa were to become available, it would almost certainly sell for much more than any of the paintings listed below. The Guiness World Book of Records lists the Mona Lisa as having the highest insurance value for a painting in history. It was assessed at US $100 million in 1962 - before the painting toured the US for several months. However, the Louvre chose to spend the money on security rather than insurance. Taking inflation into account, the 1962 value would be approximately US$670 million in 2006.
Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I by Gustav Klimt
Sold for $135 million on June 18, 2006 in a private sale (time value:$135 million)
Portrait of Dr. Gachet by Vincent van Gogh
Sold for $82.5 million on May 15, 1990 at Christie's, New York (time value: $116,793,226.33) †
Bal au moulin de la Galette, Montmartre by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Sold for $78 million on May 17, 1990 at Sotheby's, New York (time value: $110,422,686.71) †
See more great info on Renoir, and related artists, on this brilliant page on artsy!
Garçon à la pipe by Pablo Picasso
Sold for $104.1 million on May 4, 2004 at Sotheby's, New York (time value: $106,910,700.00)
Dora Maar au Chat by Pablo Picasso
Sold for $95.2 million on May 3, 2006 at Sotheby's, New York (time value: $95,216,000.00)
Irises by Vincent van Gogh
Sold for $49 million on November 11, 1987 at Sotheby's, New York (time value: $78,402,796.71).
Massacre of the Innocents by Peter Paul Rubens
Sold for £49.5 million ($76.7 million) on July 10, 2002 at Sotheby's, London (time value: $77,927,200.00)
Les Noces de Pierrette by Pablo Picasso
Sold for $49 million on November 30, 1989 (time value: $72,697,766.77)
Portrait de l'artiste sans barbe by Vincent van Gogh
Sold for $65 million on November 19, 1998 at Christie's, New York (time value: $71,691,040.02).
Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier by Paul Cézanne
Sold for $60.5 million on May 10, 1999 at Sotheby's, New York (later resold at a loss)
The following excerpt is taken from the book Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior, by David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D.
Love, Radiance, and Miracles
"The overall condition of my nerves improved slowly, and then another phenomenon began—a sweet, delicious band of energy started to flow continuously up my spine and into my brain, where it created an intense sensation of continuous pleasure. Everything in life happened by synchronicity, evolving in perfect harmony, and the miraculous was commonplace. The origin of what the world would call miracles was the Presence, not my personal self. What remained of the personal "me" was only a witness to these phenomena. The greater "I," deeper than my own self or my own thoughts, determined all that happened.
The states I was experiencing had been reported by others; I began investigating spiritualteachings--including those of the Buddha, Huang Po, and other enlightened sages; and more recent teachers such as Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta Maharaja--and thus confirmed that these experiences weren't unique. Suddenly, the Bhagavad Gita made complete sense; eventually I experienced the same spiritual ecstasy reported by Sri Ramakrishna and the Christian saints.
Everything and everyone in the world was luminous and exquisitely beautiful to me. All living things became radiant, and expressed this radiance in stillness and splendor. It was apparent that all of mankind is actually motivated by inner love, but has simply become unaware; most people live their lives as though they're sleepers unawakened to the perception of who they really are. All those around me looked as if they were asleep, but they were incredibly beautiful--I was in love with everyone.
I had to stop my habitual practice of meditating for an hour in the morning and then again before dinner because it would intensify the bliss to such an extent that I could not function. An experience similar to the one I had as a boy in the snowbank would recur, but it became increasingly difficult to leave that state and return to my surroundings. The incredible beauty of all things shone forth in all its perfection, and where the world saw ugliness, I saw only timeless beauty. This spiritual love permeated all of my perception; all boundaries between here and there, then and now, or me and you disappeared.
I spent years in inner silence, and the strength of the Presence grew. I had no personal life--my personal will no longer existed. I was an instrument of the Infinite Presence, and I went about and did as it willed. People felt an extraordinary peace in the aura of that Presence; seekers sought answers from me, but as there was no such individual as "David" any longer, I saw that what these people were doing was finessing answers from their own selves, which were no different from mine. As I looked at each person, my self shone forth from their eyes. How did I get into all these bodies? I wondered.
The miraculous happened, beyond ordinary comprehension. Many chronic maladies from which I had suffered for years disappeared; my eyesight spontaneously normalized, and I no longer needed the bifocals I had worn for much of my life. Occasionally I would feel an exquisitely blissful energy--an infinite love--that would suddenly begin to radiate from my heart toward the scene of some calamity. For instance, I was once driving on a highway when this amazing energy began to beam out of my chest. As I rounded a bend, I saw that an auto accident had just occurred; in fact, the wheels of the upturned car were still spinning. The energy passed, with great intensity, from me to the occupants of the car, and then it stopped of its own accord. Another time, I was walking down the streets of a strange city, when the energy started to flow down the block ahead of me. I happened to arrive at the scene of an incipient gang fight, and the combatants fell back and began to laugh. Then the energy stopped again.
Profound changes of perception came, without warning, in improbable circumstances. While dining alone at a restaurant on Long Island, the Presence suddenly intensified until every person and thing, which had appeared separate in ordinary perception, melted into a timeless universality and oneness. In the motionless silence, I saw that there are no "events" or "things" and that nothing actually "happens" because past, present, and future are merely artifacts of perception, as is the illusion of a separate "I," subject to birth and death. As my limited, false self dissolved into the universal Self of its true origin, there was an ineffable sense of having returned home, a state of absolute peace and relief from all suffering. For it's only the illusion of individuality that is the origin of all suffering--when one realizes that one is the universe, complete and at one with all that is, forever without end, then no further suffering is possible."
Adele2 from http://blogs.princeton.edu/wri152-3/f05/juheakim/klimt_and_his_women.html
Adele1 from http://www.artdreamguide.com/adg/_arti/_k/_klimt/_opus/511.htm
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