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1 of 5A woman looks at David Hockney's "Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)" during a press preview on Sept. 13, 2018 at Christie's New York.Timothy A. Clary—AFP/Getty Images -
2 of 5"Salvator Mundi" (Savior of the World), the last of Leonardo Da Vinci's works in private hands, sold for $450 million on Nov. 15, 2017. In 1958, before it was proved to be a DaVinci, the same painting changed hands for 45 British pounds.Ivan Romano—Getty Images -
3 of 5On Oct. 5, Jenny Saville's 1992 painting 'Propped,' the work that propelled her to international acclaim, sold for $12.4 million, a record for a living female artist.Tristan Fewings—Getty Images for Sotheby's -
4 of 5"Los Rivales" (The Rivals) by Diego Rivera fetched $9.76 million on May 5, the highest price paid at auction for a Latin American artwork. The previous record-holder was Rivera's wife, Frida Kahlo.Hector Retamal—AFP/Getty Images -
5 of 5The rapper and impresario P. Diddy paid $21.1 million for "Past Times" by Kerry James Marshall on May 16. That's the highest price ever for a work by a living African American artist.Hector Retamal—AFP/Getty Images
On Nov. 15, an anonymous buyer paid a hair over $90 million for David Hockney‘s “Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)” — a record auction price for a work by a living artist. But Hockney’s not the only artist whose oeuvre is getting expensive.
The last 12 months have seen unprecedented sums being paid for a range of works, especially contemporary ones. That’s not to say genuine old masters aren’t doing well, just that they’re in short supply; a Leonardo DaVinci work with a provenance that had been thought to be shaky set a record for any painting ever sold at auction around this time in 2017 when it sold for $450 million.
Here are five paintings that set records this year.
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