There are artists who are very well known for their works. These paintings are worth a lot of money and most of them are hanging in galleries. However, there are some paintings that even the art critics do not know about because they were sold underground.

In the past century there have been many great artists who have produced some amazing paintings. Some of these paintings have been bought by collectors for millions of dollars. In this article we will discuss the top 10 most expensive paintings ever sold at auction, which you may be familiar with or even own one of them.

Art and money. The two have never been more closely linked than they are today. Auction houses like Sotheby’s and Christie’s, who dominate the art market, turn over billions of dollars each year selling works of art to hordes of the rich and super-rich.

So why have the prices of the world’s most famous paintings risen so dramatically in recent years? Is it because there are more millionaires in the world than ever before? Or is there something else about art that we don’t quite understand?

To try to answer these questions I’ve collected 10 of the most expensive paintings ever sold at auction. Let’s take a look at what they are, how much they were sold for and why they cost so much.

On the list of most expensive paintings ever sold at auction, Picasso’s “Women of Algiers (Version O)” has a special place.

The oil-on-canvas, which depicts five nude female figures, was created in 1955, and is one of Picasso’s 14 “Version O” works, which were made after his mistress Marie-Therese Walter died in 1954. The painting once belonged to the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism and it has been appraised at $140 million.

Titled “Women of Algiers (Version 0),” it almost doubled the previous record for an auction price for any work of art when it was sold in May 2015 for $179 million.

Picasso painted five “Version 0” versions, and this is the only one that has been put up for sale since 1955.

The buyer remains unknown.*

The painting is a portrait of a woman by Pablo Picasso and it sold for $106 million in 2004. The next most expensive painting ever sold at auction is also a Picasso, “Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust,” which sold for $106.5 million in 2010.

The most expensive work of art ever sold at auction is Jackson Pollock’s No. 5, 1948, which sold for $160 million in 2006.

The most expensive sculpture ever sold at auction is Alberto Giacometti’s “Walking Man I,” which sold for $104.3 million in 2010.

The second most expensive painting ever sold at auction is Edvard Munch’s “The Scream,” which sold for $119.9 million in 2012; it was purchased by an anonymous buyer over telephone bidding.

Titian’s painting “Judith Beheading Holofernes” was the first artwork to break the $100 million mark when it was sold at Christie’s auction house on July 8, 2002 for a record price of $135 million (including buyer’s premium). The painting had been owned by the Duke of Devonshire who had loaned it to the National Gallery in London for more than 50 years.

The most expensive piece of graphic art

The art world has long been a place for the wealthy to show off their cash. But some of the priciest pieces of art ever sold were bought with a specific purpose in mind.

The buyers wanted the paintings for personal use, not just for bragging rights.

These 10 paintings were all sold at auction — which means that someone was willing to pay top dollar for them — and they all sold for more than $100 million each. The record-setting price that each painting fetched is also listed.

In no particular order:

1. Pablo Picasso’s “Women of Algiers (Version O)” This painting set a new record when it sold at auction in 2015 for $179 million. That shattered a previous record held by Francis Bacon’s “Three Studies of Lucian Freud,” which sold for $142.4 million in 2013.

2. Willem de Kooning’s “Interchange” This abstract piece of work sold at Christie’s in New York on May 12, 2012, for $300 million — making it the most expensive painting ever sold at auction at the time. It held that title until November 2014, when another abstract piece by Mark Rothko was purchased for $46 million more than that.*

3. Jackson Pollock’s

“The Scream” by Edvard Munch (1893)

Sold: May 2, 2012

Where: Sotheby’s in New York City

How Much: $119,922,500

The backstory behind this painting is well-known. The artist was walking with two of his friends when he saw the sky turn blood red. He immediately went back to his studio and painted “The Scream.” This painting has been stolen twice and was almost sold for about $60 in an art auction. It was recovered, but the second time it was stolen it was burned by an angry man who stole it from a museum in Norway. The painting that we see now is a near-perfect replica made by Munch himself.

1. Pablo Picasso: “Women of Algiers (Version O)” – $179,365,000

2. Francis Bacon: “Three Studies of Lucian Freud” – $142,405,000

3. Andy Warhol: “Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster)” – $105,482,500

4. Alberto Giacometti: “Walking Man I” – $104,882,500

5. Edvard Munch: “The Scream” – $119,922,500

6. Jackson Pollock: No. 5, 1948 – $140,805,000

7. Willem de Kooning: “Interchange” – $137,200,000

8. Mark Rothko: “White Center (Yellow and Pink)” – $72,851,000

9. Gustav Klimt: “Adele Bloch-Bauer II” – $87,936,000

10. Francis Bacon: “Triptych 1976-1978” – $86,922,500