The World’s Most Expensive Paintings

There is a fascinating connection between art and money. Paintings may exalt the spirit, but they are also high-end luxury items. Whatever other worth they may have, artworks are commodities, desired and exchanged by the wealthy and powerful for prestige and status.

Paintings accumulate value as if by miracle. A low-cost scrap of canvas, which serves no practical purpose, can become extremely valuable with the stroke of a brush. But how, precisely, is this done? And what is it about art that captivates the ultra-rich? Art critic Alastair Sooke investigates the most expensive paintings ever sold at auction, uncovering the stories behind their astronomical prices.