What is the most expensive piece of art in the world?
From:http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,1210629,00.html The world’s most expensive piece of art … a 58m Picasso painting David Teather in New York Thursday May 6, 2004 The Guardian A masterpiece by Pablo Picasso, painted in 1905 when he was just 24 years old, last night became the most expensive piece of art ever sold when it went under the hammer at Sotheby’s in New York for $104m (58m). The painting, Garcon a la Pipe (Boy with a Pipe) is one of the most important early works by the artist ever to appear on the market. It was the star item in the collection of the late Mr and Mrs John Hay Whitney. The record price previously paid for a painting was $82.5m for Vincent Van Gogh’s Portrait of Dr Gachet at a Christie’s auction in 1990. The previous high for a Picasso was $55m. The sale was the high point of a day in which millions of dollars changed hands in two widely-publicised auctions at Christie’s and Sotheby’s in New York, billed in the art world as a battle between
