Contemporary Classical Artists. contemporary artists

Today, modern painting has gained incredible popularity, therefore it has become known not only for its tendency to expand borders and explore new means of expression, but also with record sales in the contemporary art market over the past few years. Moreover, artists from almost all over the world, from America to Asia, enjoy success. Next, you will find out whose names are represented by the best contemporary painting in the world, who is he, the most expensive contemporary artist, and who is a little short of this title.

The most expensive contemporary artists

Among that myriad names that modern painting has, the paintings of only certain artists enjoy exceptional success. Among them, the most expensive paintings were the famous neo-expressionist and graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, who, however, died at the age of 27. In our list, you will see only the first seven of those wealthy artists who are alive to this day.

Bryce Marden

The works of this American author are quite difficult to classify and bring to a single art direction, although he is often referred to as representatives of either minimalism or abstractionism. But unlike artists in these styles, whose paintings seem to have never been touched, Marden's contemporary painting retains palette knife strokes and other traces of his work. One of those who influenced his work is considered to be another contemporary artist Jasper Johns, whose name you will meet later.

Zeng Fanzhi

This contemporary artist is one of the main figures of the Chinese art scene today. It is his work called " The Last Supper", based on famous work Leonardo da Vinci, was sold for $23.3 million and became the most expensive painting which modern Asian painting can boast of. Also known are the works of the artist "Self-portrait", the triptych "Hospital" and paintings from the series "Masks".

In the 1990s, his painting style often changed and eventually moved from expressionism to symbolism.

Peter Doig

Peter Doig is a world-famous Scottish contemporary artist whose work is inspired by the theme of magical realism. Many of his works tend to disorient the viewer, even when they depict recognizable images such as figures, trees, and buildings.

In 2015, his painting "Swamped" managed to break the record and become the most expensive painting by contemporary artists from Scotland, being sold at auction for 25.9 million. Doig's paintings "Architect's House in the Hollow", "White Canoe", "Reflection", "Roadside Diner" and others are also popular.

Christopher Wool

Contemporary artist Christopher Wool explores various post-conceptual ideas in his work. The most famous modern paintings artist are block inscriptions depicted in black on a white canvas.

Similar paintings by contemporary artists cause a lot of controversy and discontent among adherents. traditional painting, but one way or another, one of Wool's works - "Apocalypse" - brought him $ 26 million. Wool does not think about the titles of the paintings for a long time, but names them according to the inscriptions: “Blue Fool”, “Troubles”, etc.

Jasper Johns

Contemporary artist Jasper Johns is known for his rebellious attitude towards abstract expressionism, which dominated the painting scene early in his career. Moreover, he works by creating costly canvases with flags, license plates, numbers and other well-known symbols that already have a clear meaning and do not need to be deciphered.

By the way, the most expensive paintings by contemporary artists include the work of the American "Flag", sold at auction in 2010 for $ 28 million. You can also look at the works "Three Flags", "False Start", "From 0 to 9", "Target with Four Faces" and many others.

Gerhard Richter

This contemporary artist from Germany, like many painters at the beginning of his career, studied realistic academic painting, but later became interested in more progressive art.

In the author's work, one can see the influence of many art trends of the 20th century, such as abstract expressionism, pop art, minimalism and conceptualism, but at the same time, Richter retained a skeptical attitude towards all established artistic and philosophical beliefs, being sure that modern painting is dynamics and search. The artist's works include "Land of meadows", "Reading", "1024 colors", "Wall", etc.

Jeff Koons

And finally, here he is - the most expensive contemporary artist in the world. American Jeff Koons works in the neo-pop style and is known for his catchy, kitsch and defiant creativity.

He is mainly known as the author of a huge number of modern sculptures, some of which were exhibited in Versailles itself. But also among the artist's works there are paintings for which special connoisseurs are ready to give millions of dollars: "Liberty Bell", "Auto", "Girl with a Dolphin and Monkey", "Saddle" and others.

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Major international auctions are increasingly including contemporary Russian artists in their auctions of post-war and contemporary art. In February 2007, Sotheby's held the first and almost sensational specialized auction of Russian contemporary art, which brought 22 auction records. "Artguide" decided to find out which of our contemporary artists has collected the most large sums on international auctions and, having compiled the top 10 most expensive living Russian artists based on the results of auction sales, he discovered some curious patterns. All sales prices are given according to the auction houses, taking into account the buyer's premium.

Alexander Vinogradov and Vladimir Dubossarsky. Night fitness. Fragment. Courtesy authors (www.dubossarskyvinogradov.com)

Of course, there could be no doubt about who exactly became the leader of the auction race: the grandiose “Beetle” by Ilya Kabakov, sold in February 2008 at Phillips de Pury for almost £3 million, is probably remembered by everyone who is interested in contemporary art. A funny nursery rhyme, the text of which is written on a wooden panel with a beetle, even acquired a thoughtful intonation in the art history and market interpretation: “My beetle breaks out, jumps, chirps, it doesn’t want to get into my collection” - this metaphorically means the passion of a collector of contemporary art, for this same beetle trading. (The verse quoted by Kabakov, composed by the architect A. Maslennikova, an amateur poet from Voronezh, was published in the children's collection of poems, counting rhymes and riddles Between Summer and Winter, published in 1976 by the Children's Literature publishing house, and Kabakov illustrated this book True, that beetle in his black and white illustrations did not have).

It should be added that if we were not the top 10 most expensive living artists, but the top 10 of their most expensive works, then Kabakov's paintings would take the first three places in this list. That is, the three most expensive works of the now living Russian artist belong to him - in addition to the "Beetle", these are "Luxury Room" in 1981 (Phillips de Pury, London, June 21, 2007, £ 2.036 million) and "Vacation No. 10" in 1987 (Phillips de Pury London, 14 April 2011, £1.497m). On top of that, the generous Kabakov "gave" another record to the Vienna Dorotheum auction - a year ago, on November 24, 2011, the painting "At the University" went there for €754.8 thousand, becoming the most expensive work of contemporary art ever sold on this auction.

The silver medalist, probably, many will also easily name - this is Eric Bulatov, whose canvas "Glory to the CPSU" was sold for a record amount for the artist at the same Phillips de Pury auction as Kabakov's "Beetle".

And here is the third place of the nonconformist Yevgeny Chubarov, whose late work"Untitled" was sold in June 2007 at Phillips de Pury for £720,000, which could have been called a surprise if not for the fact that a few months earlier, in February of that year, Chubarov had already made a splash at Sotheby's in London, at a specialized auction of Russian contemporary art, where his work with the same name (or rather, without it) was sold for £288 thousand (with an upper limit of the estimate of £60 thousand), not only beating the alleged top lot of that auction, the painting Bulatov "Revolution - Perestroika" (sale price £198 thousand), but also becoming the most expensive work of the living Russian artist at that time. By the way, here it is, the irony of currency fluctuations: in November 2000, Grisha Bruskin's polyptych was sold in New York for $424 thousand, and then in pounds sterling it was £296.7 thousand, and in February 2007, when it was installed Chubarov's first record is already only £216.6 thousand.

The works of the fourth place winners Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid are frequent and quite successful lots Western auctions, although their estimates rarely exceed £100,000. The duo's second most expensive work is Yalta Conference. The Judgment of Paris "- was sold at Macdougall's in 2007 for £ 184.4 thousand. But it should be noted, of course, that the painting that brought them fourth place belongs to rather early and rarely appearing works at auctions and that it was exhibited in 1976 at the first (and very loud) foreign exhibition of Komar and Melamid at the Ronald Feldman Gallery in New York.

Oleg Vasiliev and Semyon Faibisovich, following Komar and Melamid, keep stable at auctions high bar. Vasiliev was third on that unusually successful auction Phillips de Pury 2008, which brought records to Ilya Kabakov and Erik Bulatov, and Faibisovich - fourth. Then Vasiliev's painting "Variation on the theme of the cover of the Ogonyok magazine" in 1980 was sold for ₤356 thousand with an estimate of ₤120 thousand, and "Another look at the Black Sea" by Faibisovich in 1986 - for £300.5 thousand with Estimate £60,000-80,000. Works by both artists often fetch six-figure sums at auction.

True, it was not the record "Soldiers" that brought fame to Faibisovich at all, but the painting "Beauty", sold at Sotheby's on March 12, 2008 - this was the second auction auction house modern Russian art, except for the Moscow auction in 1988. The painting (its other name is “The First of May”) then went for £264 thousand with an estimate of £60-80 thousand, a real battle unfolded between buyers for it. Another painting by Faibisovich “On Moscow Street” at that auction exceeded the estimate twice and was sold for £126,000. We add that, according to the Artprice portal, Semyon Faibisovich is the only Russian artists, included in the top 500 best-selling in 2011-2012.

Roughly the same can be said about Oleg Tselkov, who is eighth in the top 10. Having found his style and theme half a century ago, a recognizable and authoritative artist, he regularly supplies auctions with his fluorescent round faces, which have continued success. The second most expensive painting by Tselkov "Five Faces" was sold in June 2007 at MacDougall's for £223.1 thousand, the third, "Two with Beetles", - in November of the same year at the same auction (MacDougall's always put up for auction several Tselkov different price range) for £202.4 thousand.

Grisha Bruskin auction history Russian contemporary art has had a special role since 1988, from the Moscow auction of Sotheby's called Russian Avant-Garde and Soviet Contemporary Art, where his "Fundamental Lexicon" was sold for a sensational £ 220 thousand, 12 times higher than the estimate. Approximately the same, and perhaps even more sensational, happened with the polyptych “Logii. Part I" in 2000 at Christie's in New York: the polyptych sold for $424,000, exceeding the upper limit of the estimate by 21 (!) times - this alone can be considered a kind of record. Most likely, this extraordinary purchase is due not least to the significance of Bruskin's name as the hero of the legendary Sotheby's Moscow auction, because no other auction sales of Bruskin even come close to these amounts.

The price of Oscar Rabin does not fluctuate, but grows steadily and very noticeably, especially for the works of the Soviet period - all the most expensive works of this master sold at auction were painted in the late 1950s and early 1970s. These are (besides his record "Socialist City") "Baths (Smell the cologne "Moscow", 1966, Sotheby's, New York, April 17, 2007, $ 336 thousand) and "Violin in the cemetery" (1969, Macdougall's, London, November 27 2006, £168.46).

The ten strongest are closed by representatives of more than younger generation— Alexander Vinogradov and Vladimir Dubossarsky, whose most expensive paintings were sold at Phillips de Pury (the second most expensive is The Last Butterfly, 1997, Phillips de Pury, New York, $181,000). These artists, in general, continue a trend that is quite clearly visible in the ranking of the most expensive paintings living artists. We will talk about her a little lower, but for now, finally, here is a list of the most expensive works living Russian artists.

Top 10 works of living Russian artists

1. Ilya Kabakov (b. 1933). Bug. 1982. Wood, enamel. 226.5 x 148.5. Auction Phillips de Pury & Company, London, February 28, 2008. Estimate £1.2-1.8 million. Sale price £2.93 million.

2. Erik Bulatov (b. 1933). Glory to the CPSU. 1975. Oil on canvas. 229.5 x 229. Auction Phillips de Pury & Company, London, February 28, 2008. Estimate £500-700 thousand. Sale price £1.084 million.

3. Evgeny Chubarov (b. 1934). Untitled. 1994. Oil on canvas. 300 x 200. Phillips de Pury & Company auction, London, June 22, 2007. Estimate £100-150 thousand. Sale price £720 thousand.

4. Vitaly Komar (b. 1943) and Alexander Melamid (b. 1945). Solzhenitsyn and Bell meeting at Rostropovich's dacha. 1972. Canvas, oil, collage, gold foil. 175 x 120. Phillips de Pury & Company auction, London, April 23, 2010. Estimate £100-150 thousand. Sale price £657.25 thousand.

5. Oleg Vasilyev (b. 1931). Before sunset. 1990. Oil on canvas. 210 x 165. Sotheby's auction, London, March 12, 2008. Estimate £200-300 thousand. Sale price £468.5 thousand.

6. Semyon Faibisovich (b. 1949). Soldiers. From the series "Stations". 1989. Oil on canvas. 285.4 x 190.5. Auction Phillips de Pury & Company, London, October 13, 2007. Estimate £40-60 thousand. Sale price £311.2 thousand.

8. Oleg Tselkov (b. 1934) boy with balloons. Canvas, oil. 103.5 x 68.5. Auction MacDougall's, London, November 28, 2008. Estimate £200-300 thousand. Sale price £238.4 thousand.

9. Oscar Rabin (b. 1928) City and moon (Socialist city). 1959. Oil on canvas. 90 x 109. Sotheby's auction, New York, April 15, 2008. Estimate $120-160 thousand. Sale price $337 thousand (£171.4 at the dollar to pound rate in April 2008).

10. Alexander Vinogradov (b. 1963) and Vladimir Dubossarsky (b. 1964). Night workout. 2004. Oil on canvas. 194.9 x 294.3. Auction Phillips de Pury & Company, London, June 22, 2007. Estimate £15-20 thousand. Sale price £132 thousand.

It is known that auction prices are an irrational thing and one cannot judge the true role and significance of the artist in the artistic process by them. But on the basis of them and the top lots, one can roughly judge the collector's preferences. What are they? You don't have to be an expert to answer this question. They are obvious. Firstly, all artists (except perhaps Alexander Vinogradov and Vladimir Dubossarsky) are “living classics” in years, and very solid ones at that. Secondly, almost every one of them set records not working recent years, but much earlier, that is, the pattern “the older the better” is also relevant here. Thirdly, without exception, all works from the top 10 are easel paintings. Fourthly, these are all pictures of a large and very big size. More or less "standard" in this respect can only be considered "The City and the Moon" by Oscar Rabin and "Boy with Balloons" by Oleg Tselkov, all the rest are great in height (not even in width) human growth. Finally, for all these artists, the theme of the Soviet (in particular, nonconformist) past is relevant in one way or another, which in many cases is accentuated in their works. It seems that our collectors are experiencing acute nostalgia for this very Soviet past (it is well known that Russian art it is Russian collectors who buy in the West).

Younger than the rest of the auction sales leaders, Alexander Vinogradov and Vladimir Dubossarsky are somewhat stubbornly trying to break out of the dozens of harsh nonconformists, but this is only at first glance. In fact, if you imagine who from the generation following Kabakov, Bulatov, Rabin, Vasiliev, Tselkov the best way may meet the above purchase criteria (easel paintings large sizes, rehashings of Soviet genres, motifs and stylistics), then it will probably turn out to be Vinogradov and Dubossarsky, worthy heirs of the masters of previous decades. At least judging by the auction sales.

Geniuses, innovators, brawlers, pioneers who had an incredible impact on world culture. The greatest Russian artists - who are they?

Top 7 Russian Artists

Among the most prominent and influential Russian artists:

1. Kazimir Malevich(1879-1935) - the author of the most controversial work in the history of world painting, "Black Square". However, Malevich's legacy is great and includes, in particular, not only the "Black", but also the "Red" and "White" squares. The most scandalous and most expensive of Russian artists. His masterpiece Suprematist Composition was sold at Sotheby's for $60 million.

2. Ivan Aivazovsky(1817-1900) - the greatest Russian marine painter, author of the immortal "The Ninth Wave". The most prolific artist - painted more than 6 thousand paintings. Due to the huge heritage, at the same time is one of the most counterfeited artists in the world. Widely known in the West, his works are regularly sold at auctions, including Sotheby's.

3. Viktor Vasnetsov(1848-1936) - perhaps the most Russian of all Russian artists. Known for works that sing folklore, fairy tales, epics. Not only the author of "Three Heroes", but also one of the developers of the Soviet Budyonovka.

4. Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin(1878-1939) - the most revolutionary artist. The painting "Bathing the Red Horse" prophetically predicted terrible upheavals in Russia. Although he was often criticized for eroticism (he boldly depicted not only naked women, but also men), in general he can be considered the forerunner of socialist realism. On foreign auctions not so much his revolutionary works as still lifes enjoy great success.

5. Vasily Vereshchagin(1842-1904) - battle painter, famous for documenting the horrors of war. Most notable work- "The Apotheosis of War", depicting a pile of skulls, bleached by the scorching sun. For decades, he was harassed by the tsarist government for his pacifist position. At the same time, he enjoyed incredible popularity both in Russia and in the West. His exhibition in St. Petersburg in 1880 was visited by 240 thousand people (in 40 days), in Berlin - 140 thousand people (in 65 days), in Vienna - 110 thousand (in 28 days). Such fame is not dreamed of by many pop stars of our time.

6. Vladimir Tatlin(1885–1953) – founder of constructivism, artist, architect, graphic artist. His artwork, similar in style to the early works of Picasso, are exhibited in the Pompidou Museum in Paris and in the Oxford library. His masterpiece "Tatlin's Tower" is one of the most recognizable and replicated symbols of avant-garde in the world. Enjoyed great success in the West ("Tatlin's machine art"), inspired a whole generation of Dada artists, including the French master of surrealism Marcel Duchamp.

7. Ilya Glazunov(born 1930) is the most monumental Russian artist. The most famous is his painting "Eternal Russia" (size - 3x6 m) - a picturesque chronicle of Russian history for 988-1988, timed to coincide with the 1000th anniversary of the baptism of Rus'. In total, he created more than 3 thousand works (portraits, landscapes, historical and political canvases). Glazunov's reputation is undeniable - someone considers him a genius, someone - a opportunist. One thing is clear - this is a figure of a titanic scale, like his canvases.

I would like to believe that in the future in Russia, too, there will be artists who can turn humanity's ideas about beauty.

Art is constantly evolving, as is the whole world around us. contemporary artists The 21st century and their paintings are not at all like those that existed in the Middle Ages, the Renaissance. New names, materials, genres, ways of expressing talents appear. In this ranking, we will get acquainted with ten innovative artists of our time.

Pedro Campos

10. Pedro Campos. In tenth place is the Spaniard, whose brush can easily compete with the camera, he paints such realistic canvases. For the most part, he creates still lifes, but it is not so much the themes of his paintings that bring amazing admiration, but the masterful embodiment. Textures, glare, depth, perspective, volume - all this Pedro Campos subordinated to his brush, so that reality, and not fiction, looked at the viewer from the canvas. Without embellishment, without romanticism, only reality, this is the meaning of the genre of photorealism. By the way, the artist acquired his attention to detail and scrupulousness at the work of a restorer.

9. Richard Estes. Another admirer of the photorealism genre, Richard Estes, started with ordinary painting, but later moved on to painting urban landscapes. Today's artists and their creations do not need to adapt to anyone, and that's great, everyone can express themselves the way they want in what they want. As in the case of Pedro Campos, the works of this master can easily be confused with photographs, the city is so similar to the real one. You rarely see people in Estes' paintings, but almost always there are reflections, glare, parallel lines and a perfect, ideal composition. Thus, he does not just copy the urban landscape, but finds perfection in it and tries to show it.

8. Kevin Sloan There are an incredible number of contemporary artists of the 21st century and their paintings, but not every one of them is worth attention. American Kevin Sloan stands, because his works seem to move the viewer into another dimension, a world full of allegories, hidden meanings, metaphorical riddles. The artist loves to paint animals, because, in his opinion, he gets more freedom in this way than with people to tell the story. Sloane has been creating his “trick reality” with oils for almost 40 years. Very often, clocks appear on the canvases: either an elephant or an octopus look at them; this image can be interpreted as passing time or as the limitations of life. Each picture of Sloan is amazing, I want to unravel what the author wanted to convey to her.

7. Laurent Parcelier. This painter belongs to those contemporary artists of the 21st century, whose paintings were recognized early, even during their studies. Laurent's talent manifested itself in the published albums under the general title " Strange world". He paints in oils, his style is light, gravitates towards realism. characteristic feature The works of the artist is an abundance of light, which seems to be pouring from the canvases. As a rule, he depicts landscapes, some recognizable places. All works are unusually light and airy, filled with sun, freshness, breath.

6. Jeremy Mann A native of San Francisco loved his city, most often depicted it in his paintings. Contemporary artists of the 21st century can draw inspiration for their paintings anywhere: in the rain, wet pavement, neon signs, city lights. Jeremy Mann fills simple landscapes mood, history, experiments with techniques and choice of colors. Mann's main material is oil.

5. Hans Rudolf Giger. In fifth place is the unique, unique Hans Giger, the creator of Alien from the film of the same name. Today's artists and their works are diverse, but each is brilliant in its own way. This gloomy Swiss does not paint nature and animals, he prefers "biomechanical" painting, in which he succeeded. Some compare the artist with Bosch for the gloominess, the fantasticness of his canvases. Although Giger’s paintings smell of something otherworldly, dangerous, you can’t refuse him in technique, skill: he is attentive to details, correctly selects shades, thinks through everything to the smallest detail.

4. Will Barnet This artist has his own unique author's style, therefore his works are readily accepted by the great museums of the world: the Metropolitan Museum, National Gallery arts, british museum, Ashmolean Museum, Vatican Museum. Contemporary artists of the 21st century and their works, in order to be recognized, must somehow stand out from the rest of the masses. And Will Barnett can do it. His works are graphic and contrasting, he often depicts cats, birds, women. At first glance, Barnett's paintings are simple, but upon further examination, you realize that this simplicity is precisely their genius.

3. Neil Simon. This is one of the contemporary artists of the 21st century, whose works are not as simple as they seem at first glance. Between the plots and the works of Neil Simon, the boundaries seem to be washed away, they flow from one to another, attract the viewer, drag them into illusory world artist. Simon's creations are characterized by bright, saturated colors, which give them energy and strength, and evoke an emotional response. The master loves to play with perspective, the size of objects, with unusual combinations and unexpected shapes. There is a lot of geometry in the artist's works, which is combined with natural scenery, as if bursting inside, but not destroying, but harmoniously complementing.

2. Igor Morsky. Today's 21st century artist and his paintings are often compared to the great genius Salvador Dali. The works of the Polish master are unpredictable, mysterious, exciting, evoke a vivid emotional response, and in places are insane. Like any other surrealist, he does not seek to show reality as it is, but shows facets that we will never see in life. More often, main character Morsky's work is a man with all his fears, passions, shortcomings. Also, the metaphors of the works of this surrealist often concern power. Of course, this is not the artist whose work you hang over the bed, but the one whose exhibition is definitely worth going to.

1. Yayoi Kusama. So, in the first place of our rating is a Japanese artist who has achieved incredible success all over the world, despite the fact that she has some mental illnesses. The main "feature" of the artist is polka dots. She covers with mugs various forms and the dimensions of everything he sees, calling it all the nets of infinity. Kusama's interactive exhibitions and installations are a success, because sometimes everyone wants (even if they don't admit it) to be inside the psychedelic world of hallucinations, childish spontaneity, fantasies and colorful circles. Among contemporary artists of the 21st century and their paintings, Yayoi Kusama is the best-selling.

What is the price modern Art? Which of the living artists use the greatest recognition, the measure of which is banknotes? Artnet answered this question by analyzing auction results from 2011 to 2015 and listing best selling contemporary artists. Alas, there were no creators from Russia on the list.

In the 60s of the last century, Ed, along with now famous artists such as Andy Warhol and Jim Dine, took part in the historic New Image ordinary items". It was one of the first exhibitions in the emerging pop art style in America. To an unenlightened look, Rushei's paintings are most reminiscent of a stenciled inscription against the backdrop of landscapes or a cheerful splash of flowers. However, over 4 years of his creations were sold for a total amount of $129,030,255.

9. Richard Prince

Richard made a name for himself by re-photographing images from print ads, arranging them in random order and embellishing them with scathing slogans. Marlboro cowboys, celebrities, porn stars, nurses and biker girlfriends suffered at his hands. He also paints the hoods of cars. The public appreciated his work in $146,056,862- it was for this amount that several works of the artist were sold.

8. Yayoi Kusama

Suffering mental illness the artist likes to cover surfaces with dots of paint - this is called "infinity nets". She managed to turn this pea and her own disease into a trademark and is now the best-selling contemporary artist in the world ( $152,768,689).

7. Peter Doig

One of the representatives of the traditional landscape painting. His work is invariably popular with the viewer, who is tired of the hyper-ironic postmodern, because after the inscriptions, collages of photographs and polka-dot chairs, it is so nice to stop your eyes on the tropical night landscape. For 4 years, paintings have been sold for $155,229,785.

6. Fan Zeng

Calligraphic lettering, transparent watercolor landscapes and portraits in the traditional chinese style sell well too $176,718,242 from 2011 to 2015.

5. Cui Ruzhou

This contemporary Chinese artist is famous for his ink paintings of flowers, birds and landscapes. However common people unable to understand the mighty power of art - and in 2012, the cleaner of the Grand Hayatt hotel accidentally threw one of his works worth $ 3.7 million into the trash. Cui Ruzhou's work over the past 4 years has been sold for $223,551,382.

4. Zeng Fanji

Complex multicolored works by yet another Chinese artist, where living creatures and objects are either entangled in the web, or lost in winter forest, as well as sinister pioneers with bloody hands from 2011 to 2015, were also sold well - for $267,949,220.

3. Christopher Wool

Christopher's trademark is huge white canvases with black lettering. Four of these letters, which form the word Riot ("rebellion"), were sold at Sotheby's for $29.9 million. And in just 4 years, the artist's works were sold in the amount of $323,997,854.

2. Jeff Koons

Former husband of porn star Cicciolina prefers to work in the neo-pop genre. He is especially famous for his steel sculptures imitating elongated balloon toys. For one of the works (steel orange dog) was paid at Christie's auction 58.4 million dollars. Jeff also plans to install a crane in front of the Los Angeles Museum of Art, on which he will hang a steam locomotive so that it puffs and emits clouds of smoke. From 2011 to 2015, Koons sold works worth a total of $379,778,439.

1. Gerard Richter

In the first place in the ranking of artists with the best-selling paintings is a master who does not even consider himself such. According to Gerard, for a long time he created something that was not related to art, composition, color, creativity, etc. Namely, he covered canvases with paint stains using scrapers and spatulas. One of these paintings, called "Abstract Image", most reminiscent of a watermelon that died in agony, was priced at Sotheby's for $43.6 million, and the artist's works for four years were sold for a modest amount of $1,165,527,419.