40 most expensive contemporary Russian artists. The most expensive artists in the world

The Art Newspaper Russia presents a rating: the most expensive living artists of Russia. If you are still sure that there were no Russian artists in the western cage and there is not, we are ready to argue with that. The language of numbers.

The conditions were simple: each of the living artists could be represented by only one, their most expensive work. When compiling the rating, not only the results of public auctions were taken into account, but also the most high-profile private sales. The authors of the rating were guided by the principle “if something sells loudly, then someone needs it”, and therefore appreciated the work of marketers and press managers of artists who brought record private sales to the public. Important note: the rating is based solely on financial indicators; if it was based on the exhibition activity of artists, it would look a little different. Resources served as external sources for analytics Artnet.com, Artprice.com, Skatepress.com and Artinvestment.ru.

The US dollar was chosen as the currency of the world rating, and the British pound sterling was taken as the equivalent of the sales of Russian artists (since 90% of domestic sales took place in London in this currency). The remaining 10% of works sold in US dollars and euros were recalculated at the exchange rate at the time of the transaction, as a result of which some positions changed places. In addition to the actual cost of the work, data were collected on the total capitalization of artists (the number of top works sold at auction in all years), on the place of a contemporary artist in the ranking of artists of all time, on the place of the most expensive work of a participant among all sold works of other authors, and also about nationality and country of residence. Important information is also contained in the statistics of repeated sales of each artist as an objective indicator of investment
attractiveness.

Last year, 2013, significantly changed the positions of contemporary artists in the international sales ranking. Of the top 50 most expensive works of art, 16 modern ones were sold last season - a record number (for comparison, 17 works were sold from 2010 to 2012, only one sale falls on the twentieth century). The demand for living artists is partly identical to the demand for all contemporary art, partly to the cynical understanding that the capitalization of assets after their death will invariably increase.

Among the Russian participants, the most respected were the brothers Sergey and Alexey Tkachevy(b. 1922 and 1925), the youngest - Anatoly Osmolovsky(b. 1969). The question is who will be the new Jean-Michel Basquiat while open. Clear classes of buyers are visible in the sales of our artists: leaders are bought by foreign collectors and Russian oligarchs, places from 10th to 30th are provided by emigrant collectors, and the conditional bottom of the top 50 is our future, young collectors with “new » money.

1. Ilya Kabakov
It seems that in general the main Russian artist (which does not prevent Kabakov, who was born in Dnepropetrovsk, from painting himself Ukrainian), the founding father of Moscow conceptualism (one of them), the author of the term and practice of “total installation”. Since 1988 he has been living and working in New York. He works in collaboration with his wife, Emilia Kabakov, which is why the title should look like "Ilya and Emilia Kabakov", but since Ilya Iosifovich became known earlier than Ilya and Emilia, then let it stay that way. Works are in the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, the Hermitage, MoMA, Kolodzei Art Foundation(USA), etc.
Year of birth: 1933
Product: "Beetle". 1982
Date of sale: 28.02.2008
Price (GBP)1: 2,932,500
Total Capitalization (GBP): 10,686,000
Seat: 1
Average cost per job (GBP): 117,429
Number of repeat sales: 12

2. Eric Bulatov
Using techniques that would later be called Sots Art, he combined figurative painting with text in his works. In Soviet times, a successful illustrator of children's books. Since 1989 he has been living and working in New York, since 1992 in Paris. The first Russian artist with a solo exhibition at the Pompidou Center. The works are kept in the collections of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, the Pompidou Center, the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, etc., are included in the collections of the Foundation Dina Verni, Victor Bondarenko, Vyacheslav Kantor, Ekaterina and Vladimir Semenikhin, Igor Tsukanov.
Year of birth: 1933
Artwork: "Glory to the CPSU". 1975
Date of sale: 28.02.2008
Price (GBP)1: 1,084,500
Total Capitalization (GBP): 8,802,000
Seat: 2
Average cost per job (GBP): 163,000
Number of repeat sales: 11

3. Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid
The creators of Sots Art - a scurrilous trend in unofficial art, parodying the symbols and techniques of officialdom. They have lived in New York since 1978. Until the mid-2000s, they worked in pairs. As an art project, they organized the "sale of souls" of famous artists through an auction (soul Andy Warhol since then owned by the Moscow artist Alena Kirtsova). Works are in the collections of the MoMA, the Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Louvre, in the collections Shalva Breus, Daria Zhukova and Roman Abramovich and etc.
Year of birth: 1943, 1945
Work: "Meeting of Solzhenitsyn and Böll at Rostropovich's dacha". 1972
Date of sale: 23.04.2010
Price (GBP)1: 657 250
Total Capitalization (GBP): 3,014,000
Seat: 7
Average cost per job (GBP): 75,350
Number of repeat sales: 3

former comar&melamid artstudio archive

4. Semyon Faibisovich
A photorealist artist who remains the most accurate realist even now, when painting fascinates Semyon Natanovich less than journalism. Exhibited at Malaya Gruzinskaya, where in 1985 he was noticed by New York dealers and collectors. Since 1987 he has regularly exhibited in the USA and Western Europe. An active supporter of the abolition of the law on propaganda of homosexuality in Russia. Lives and works in Moscow. Works are in the collections of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Moscow House of Photography, museums in Germany, Poland, the USA, are included in the collections Daria Zhukova and Roman Abramovich, Igor Markin, Igor
Tsukanova.
Year of birth: 1949
Composition: "Soldiers" (from the series "Stations"). 1989
Date of sale: 10/13/2007
Price (GBP)1: 311,200
Total Capitalization (GBP): 3,093,000
Seat: 6
Average cost per job (GBP): 106,655
Number of repeat sales: 7

5. Grigory (Grisha) Bruskin
The protagonist of the first and last Soviet auction Sotheby's in 1988, where his work The Fundamental Lexicon became the top lot (£220,000). At the invitation of the German government, he created a monumental triptych for the reconstructed Reichstag in Berlin. Winner of the Kandinsky Prize in the nomination "Project of the Year" for the exhibition Time H at the Multimedia Art Museum. Lives and works in New York and Moscow. Works are in the collections of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, the Pushkin Museum im. A. S. Pushkin, the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, MoMA, the Museum of Jewish Culture (New York), etc., are included in the collections of the Queen of Spain Sofia, Petr Aven, Shalva Breus, Vladimir and Ekaterina Semenikhin, Milos Forman.
Year of birth: 1945
Artwork: "Logii. Part 1". 1987
Date of sale: 07.11.2000
Price (GBP)1: 424,000
Total Capitalization (GBP): 720,000
Seat: 15
Average cost per job (GBP): 24,828
Number of repeat sales: 5

6. Oleg Tselkov
One of the most famous artists of the sixties, who in the 1960s began and still continues a cycle of paintings depicting rough, as if molded from clay, human faces (or figures), painted with bright aniline colors. Since 1977 lives in Paris. The works are in the collections of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, the Hermitage, the Zimmerli Museum of Rutgers University, etc., are included in the collections Mikhail Baryshnikov, Arthur Miller, Igor Tsukanov. The largest private collection of Tselkov's works in Russia belongs to Evgeny Evtushenko.
Year of birth: 1934
Artwork: "Boy with Balloons" 1957
Date of sale: 26.11.2008
Price (GBP)1: 238,406
Total Capitalization (GBP): 4,232,000
Seat: 5
Average cost per job (GBP): 53,570
Number of repeat sales: 14

7. Oscar Rabin
Leader of the "Lianozovo group" (Moscow nonconformist artists of the 1950s-1960s), organizer of the scandalous bulldozer exhibition 1974. He was the first in the Soviet Union to sell works privately. In 1978 he was deprived of Soviet citizenship. Lives and works in Paris. In 2006 he won the Innovation Award for his contribution to art. The works are in the collections of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, the Zimmerli Museum of Rutgers University, are included in the collections of Alexander Glezer, Vyacheslav Kantor, Alexander Kronik, Iveta and Tamaz Manasherov, Evgeny Nutovich, Aslan Chekhoev.
Year of birth: 1928
Artwork: "The city and the moon (Socialist
city)". 1959
Date of sale: 15.04.2008
Price (GBP)1: 171,939
Total Capitalization (GBP): 5,397,000
Seat: 3
Average cost per job (GBP): 27,964
Number of repeat sales: 45

8. Zurab Tsereteli
The largest representative of the already monumental art. The author of the monument to Peter I in Moscow and the monument Good conquers Evil in front of the UN building in New York. Founder of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, President of the Russian Academy of Arts, creator of the Zurab Tsereteli Art Gallery, working at the aforementioned academy. Sculptures by Zurab Tsereteli, in addition to Russia, adorn Brazil, Great Britain, Georgia, Spain, Lithuania, the USA, France and Japan.
Year of birth: 1934
Composition: "The Dream of Athos"
Date of sale: 01.12.2009
Price (GBP)1: 151 250
Total Capitalization (GBP): 498,000
Seat: 19
Average cost per job (GBP): 27,667
Number of repeat sales: 4

9. Viktor Pivovarov
One of the founders of Moscow conceptualism. Like Kabakov, the inventor of the conceptual album genre; like Kabakov, Bulatov and Oleg Vasilyev, he is a successful illustrator of children's books who collaborated with the magazines Murzilka and Funny Pictures. Since 1982 he has been living and working in Prague. The works are in the collections of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, the Pushkin Museum im. A. S. Pushkin, Kolodzei Art Foundation(USA), in the collections of Vladimir and Ekaterina Semenikhin, Igor Tsukanov.
Year of birth: 1937
Artwork: "Triptych with a snake." 2000
Sale date: 10/18/2008
Price (GBP)1: 145 250
Total Capitalization (GBP): 482,000
Seat: 20
Average cost per job (GBP): 17,852
Number of repeat sales: 6

10. Alexander Melamid
Half of the creative tandem Komar — Melamid, disbanded in 2003. Together with Vitaly Komar, a participant bulldozer exhibition(where they died Double self-portrait, the founding work of Sots Art). Since 1978 he has been living and working in New York. There is no information about in which well-known collections the works of Melamid, created by him independently, are located.
Year of birth: 1945
Composition: Cardinal José Saraiva Martins. 2007
Sale date: 10/18/2008
Price (GBP)1: 145 250
Total Capitalization (GBP): 145,000
Seat: 36
Average cost per job (GBP): 145,000
Number of repeat sales: —

11. Francisco Infante Arana
The owner, perhaps, of the heaviest list of exhibitions among Russian artists. Member of the group of kinetists "Traffic", in the 1970s he found his own version of photo performance, or "artifact" - geometric shapes integrated into the natural landscape.
Year of birth: 1943
Artwork: "Building a sign." 1984
Date of sale: 31.05.2006
Price (GBP)1: 142,400
Total Capitalization (GBP): 572,000
Seat: 17
Average cost per job (GBP): 22,000
Number of repeat sales: —

12. Vladimir Nemukhin
Metaphysician. A classic of the second wave of the Russian avant-garde, a member of the "Lianozovo group", one of the participants in the Bulldozer Exhibition, curator (or initiator) of important exhibitions of the 1980s, when unofficial Soviet
art was just becoming aware of itself.
Year of birth: 1925
Artwork: "Unfinished Solitaire". 1966
Date of sale: 26.04.2006
Price (GBP)1: 240,000
Total Capitalization (GBP): 4,338,000
Seat: 4
Average cost per job (GBP): 36,454
Number of repeat sales: 26

13. Vladimir Yankilevsky
Surrealist, one of the main names of the post-war Moscow unofficial art, the creator of monumental philosophical polyptychs.
Year of birth: 1938
Artwork: “Triptych No. 10. Anatomy of the soul. II." 1970
Date of sale: 23.04.2010
Price (GBP)1: 133,250
Total Capitalization (GBP): 754,000
Seat: 14
Average cost per job (GBP): 12,780
Number of repeat sales: 7

14. Alexander Vinogradov and Vladimir Dubossarsky
picturesque project Paintings to order, begun by them in the hopeless 1990s for painting, received what it deserved in the 2000s. The duet became popular with collectors, and one painting ended up in the collection of the Pompidou Center.
Year of birth: 1963, 1964
Artwork: "Night fitness". 2004
Date of sale: 22.06.2007
Price (GBP)1: 132,000
Total Capitalization (GBP): 1,378,000
Seat: 11
Average cost per job (GBP): 26,500
Number of repeat sales: 4

15. Sergey Volkov
One of the heroes of perestroika art, known for expressive paintings with thoughtful statements. Participant of the Soviet auction Sotheby's in 1988.
Year of birth: 1956
Artwork: "Double vision.
Triptych"
Date of sale: 31.05.2007
Price (GBP)1: 132,000
Total Capitalization (GBP): 777,000
Place: 12
Average cost per job (GBP): 38,850
Number of repeat sales: 4

16. AES + F (Tatyana Arzamasova, Lev Evzovich, Evgeny Svyatsky, Vladimir Fridkes)
AES projects were distinguished by a good presentation in the sloppy 1990s, which is what they remember. Now they are making large animated frescoes broadcast on dozens of screens.
Year of birth: 1955, 1958, 1957, 1956
Composition: "Warrior No. 4"
Date of sale: 12.03.2008
Price (GBP)1: 120 500
Total Capitalization (GBP): 305,000
Seat: 27
Average cost per job (GBP): 30,500
Number of repeat sales: —

17. Lev Tabenkin
Sculptor and painter with a sculptural vision, as if sculpting his characters from clay.
Year of birth: 1952
Composition: Jazz Orchestra. 2004
Date of sale: 30.06.2008
Price (GBP)1: 117,650
Total Capitalization (GBP): 263,000
Seat: 28
Average cost per job (GBP): 26,300
Number of repeat sales: 7

18. Mikhail (Misha Shayevich) Brusilovsky
Sverdlovsk surrealist, author of ambiguous allegories.
Year of birth: 1931
Artwork: Football. 1965
Date of sale: 28.11.2006
Price (GBP)1: 108,000
Total Capitalization (GBP): 133,000
Seat: 38
Average cost per job (GBP): 22,167
Number of repeat sales: —

19. Olga Bulgakova
One of the main figures of the intelligentsia "carnival" painting of the Brezhnev era. Corresponding member
Russian Academy of Arts.
Year of birth: 1951
Composition: "Dream of the red
bird." 1988
Date of sale: 22.11.2010
Price (GBP)1: 100,876
Total Capitalization (GBP): 219,000
Seat: 31
Average cost per job (GBP): 36,500
Number of repeat sales: —

20. Alexander Ivanov
An abstract artist who is primarily known as a businessman, collector and creator of the Faberge Museum in Baden-Baden (Germany).
Year of birth: 1962
Composition: "Love". 1996
Date of sale: 05.06.2013
Price (GBP)1: 97,250
Total Capitalization (GBP): 201,000
Seat: 33
Average cost per job (GBP): 50,250
Number of repeat sales: —

21. Ivan Chuikov
An independent wing of Moscow pictorial conceptualism. Author of a series of paintings-objects Windows. Somehow in the 1960s, he burned all the paintings, which is why gallery owners are still sad.
Year of birth: 1935
Artwork: "Untitled" 1986
Date of sale: 12.03.2008
Price (GBP)1: 96,500
Total Capitalization (GBP): 1,545,000
Seat: 10
Average cost per job (GBP): 36,786
Number of repeat sales: 8

22. Konstantin Zvezdochetov
In his youth, a member of the Mukhomor group, which called itself the "fathers of the" new wave "in the Soviet Union" -
with good reason; with the onset of creative maturity, the participant of the Venice Biennale and the Kassel
documenta. Researcher and connoisseur of the visual in the Soviet grassroots culture.
Year of birth: 1958
Composition: "Perdo-K-62M"
Date of sale: 13.06.2008
Price (GBP)1: 92,446
Total Capitalization (GBP): 430,000
Seat: 22
Average cost per job (GBP): 22,632
Number of repeat sales: 2

23. Natalia Nesterova
One of the main art stars of the Brezhnev stagnation. Favored by collectors for its textured painting style.
Year of birth: 1944
Composition: "Melnik and his
son". 1969
Date of sale: 15.06.2007
Price (GBP)1: 92,388
Total Capitalization (GBP): 1,950,000
Seat: 9
Average cost per job (GBP): 20,526
Number of repeat sales: 15

24. Maxim Kantor
An expressionist painter who performed at the Russian pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 1997, as well as a publicist and writer, author of a philosophical and satirical novel drawing tutorial about the ins and outs of the Russian art world.
Year of birth: 1957
Artwork: "The Structure of Democracy". 2003
Sale date: 10/18/2008
Price (GBP)1: 87,650
Total Capitalization (GBP): 441,000
Seat: 21
Average cost per job (GBP): 44,100
Number of repeat sales: 2

25. Andrey Sidersky
Creates paintings in the style of psi-art invented by him. He translated into Russian the works of Carlos Castaneda and Richard Bach.
Year of birth: 1960
Composition: "Triptych"
Date of sale: 04.12.2009
Price (GBP)1: 90,000
Total Capitalization (GBP): 102,000
Seat: 42
Average cost per job (GBP): 51,000
Number of repeat sales: —

26. Valery Koshlyakov
Known for paintings with architectural motifs. The largest representative of the "South Russian wave". Often uses cardboard boxes, bags, adhesive tape. The first exhibition with his participation was held in a public toilet in Rostov-on-Don in 1988.
Year of birth: 1962
Artwork: Versailles. 1993
Date of sale: 12.03.2008
Price (GBP)1: 72,500
Total Capitalization (GBP): 346,000
Seat: 26
Average cost per job (GBP): 21,625
Number of repeat sales: 8

27. Alexey Sundukov
Laconic, lead-colored paintings about the "lead abominations" of everyday Russian life.
Year of birth: 1952
Artwork: "The Essence of Being". 1988
Date of sale: 23.04.2010
Price (GBP)1: 67,250
Total Capitalization (GBP): 255,000
Seat: 29
Average cost per job (GBP): 25,500
Number of repeat sales: 1

28. Igor Novikov
Belongs to the generation of Moscow nonconformist artists of the late 1980s.
Year of birth: 1961
Artwork: “Kremlin breakfast, or Moscow for sale”. 2009
Date of sale: 03.12.2010
Price (GBP)1: 62,092
Total Capitalization (GBP): 397,000
Seat: 24
Average cost per job (GBP): 15,880
Number of repeat sales: 3

29. Vadim Zakharov
Archivist of Moscow Conceptualism. The author of spectacular installations on thoughtful topics, represented Russia at the Venice
biennale.
Year of birth: 1959
Artwork: Baroque. 1986-1994
Sale date: 10/18/2008
Price (GBP)1: 61,250
Total Capitalization (GBP): 243,000
Seat: 30
Average cost per job (GBP): 20,250
Number of repeat sales: —

30. Yuri Krasny
Author of art programs for children with special needs.
Year of birth: 1925
Composition: "Smoker"
Date of sale: 04.04.2008Price (GBP)1: 59,055
Total Capitalization (GBP): 89,000
Seat: 44
Average cost per job (GBP): 11,125
Number of repeat sales: 8

31. Sergey and Alexey Tkachev
Classics of late Soviet impressionism, students of Arkady Plastov, known for their paintings from the life of the Russian village.
Year of birth: 1922, 1925
Artwork: "In the field". 1954
Date of sale: 01.12.2010
Price (GBP)1: 58,813
Total Capitalization (GBP): 428,000
Seat: 23
Average cost per job (GBP): 22,526
Number of repeat sales: 4

32. Svetlana Kopystyanskaya
Known for installations of paintings. After the Moscow auction Sotheby's in 1988 works abroad.
Year of birth: 1950
Composition: "Seascape"
Date of sale: 10/13/2007
Price (GBP)1: 57,600
Total Capitalization (GBP): 202,000
Seat: 32
Average cost per job (GBP): 22,444
Number of repeat sales: 2

33. Boris Orlov
Sculptor close to Sots Art. Famous for his work in the ironic "imperial" style and the masterful dressing of bronze busts and bouquets.
Year of birth: 1941
Artwork: Sailor. 1976
Sale date: 10/17/2013
Price (GBP)1: 55,085
Total Capitalization (GBP): 174,000
Seat: 34
Average cost per job (GBP): 17,400
Number of repeat sales: 1

34. Vyacheslav Kalinin
The author of expressive paintings from the life of the urban lower classes and drinking bohemia.
Year of birth: 1939
Artwork: "Self-portrait with a hang glider"
Date of sale: 25.11.2012
Price (GBP)1: 54,500
Total Capitalization (GBP): 766,000
Seat: 13
Average cost per job (GBP): 12,767
Number of repeat sales: 24

35. Evgeny Semenov
Known for a photo series with patients with Down's disease, playing the role of gospel characters.
Year of birth: 1960
Artwork: Heart. 2009
Date of sale: 29.06.2009
Price (GBP)1: 49,250
Total Capitalization (GBP): 49,000
Seat: 48
Average Cost of Work (GBP): 49,000
Number of repeat sales: —

36. Yuri Cooper
He became famous for his nostalgic paintings with old household items. Playwright Twelve paintings from the artist's life, staged at the Moscow Art Theatre. A.P. Chekhov.
Year of birth: 1940
Artwork: Window. Dass Street, 56. 1978
Date of sale: 09.06.2010
Price (GBP)1: 49,250
Total Capitalization (GBP): 157,000
Seat: 35
Average cost per job (GBP): 2,754
Number of repeat sales: 14

37. Alexander Kosolapov
A social artist whose work has been the target of all sorts of attacks. During the Art Moscow 2005 fair, one of his works was destroyed by a religious fanatic with a hammer.
Year of birth: 1943
Artwork: "Marlboro Malevich". 1987
Date of sale: 12.03.2008
Price (GBP)1: 48,500
Total Capitalization (GBP): 510,000
Seat: 18
Average cost per job (GBP): 15,938
Number of repeat sales: 1

38. Leonid Sokov
Leading Sots Art sculptor who combined folklore with politics. Among the famous works Device for determining nationality by the shape of the nose.
Year of birth: 1941
Artwork: "Bear hitting a sickle with a hammer." 1996
Date of sale: 12.03.2008
Price (GBP)1: 48,500
Total Capitalization (GBP): 352,000
Seat: 25
Average cost per job (GBP): 13,538
Number of repeat sales: 7

39. Vladimir Ovchinnikov
One of the patriarchs of unofficial art in Leningrad. Orthodox version of Fernando Botero.
Year of birth: 1941
Artwork: "Angels and Railway Tracks" 1977
Date of sale: 17.04.2007
Price (GBP)1: 47,846
Total Capitalization (GBP): 675,000
Seat: 16
Average cost per job (GBP): 15,341
Number of repeat sales: —

40. Konstantin Khudyakov
The author of paintings on religious subjects. Currently working in digital art.
Year of birth: 1945
Artwork: The Last Supper. 2007
Date of sale: 18.02.2011
Price (GBP)1: 46,850
Total Capitalization (GBP): 97,000
Seat: 43
Average cost per job (GBP): 32,333
Number of repeat sales: —

41. Ernst Unknown
An icon of Soviet non-conformism - since he openly objected to General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev at the vernissage of the legendary exhibition dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Moscow Union of Artists. After that, he made a monument on the grave of Khrushchev and a monument in front of the UN European headquarters.
Year of birth: 1925
Composition: "Untitled"
Date of sale: 08.06.2010
Price (GBP)1: 46,850
Total Capitalization (GBP): 2,931,000
Seat: 8
Average cost per job (GBP): 24,839
Number of repeat sales: 13

42. Anatoly Osmolovsky
One of the main figures of Moscow actionism in the 1990s, art theorist, curator, publisher and head of the Baza Institute research and educational program, winner of the first Kandinsky Prize.
Year of birth: 1969
Composition: "Bread" (from the series "Pagans"). 2009
Date of sale: 23.04.2010
Price (GBP)1: 46,850
Total Capitalization (GBP): 83,000
Seat: 46
Average cost per job (GBP): 11,857
Number of repeat sales: —

43. Dmitry Vrubel
Photorealist painter, known mainly for the painting depicting Brezhnev and Honecker kissing (or rather, thanks to the author's reproduction on the Berlin Wall).
Year of birth: 1960
Composition: "Fraternal kiss (triptych)". 1990
Date of sale: 25.11.2013
Price (GBP)1: 45,000

Seat: 40
Average cost per job (GBP): 16,429
Number of repeat sales: 2

44. Leonid Lamm
The author of installations that combined the motifs of the Russian avant-garde and the scenes of Soviet prison life. Lives in America. In the 1970s, on false charges, he spent three years in prisons and labor camps.
Year of birth: 1928
Artwork: "Apple II" (from the series "The Seventh Heaven"). 1974-1986
Sale date: 12/16/2009
Price (GBP)1: 43,910
Total Capitalization (GBP): 115,000
Seat: 41
Average cost per job (GBP): 14,375
Number of repeat sales: —

Picturesque installations by Irina Nakhova of the 1980s in her apartment can claim authorship in the “total.

45. Irina Nakhova
Muse of Moscow Conceptualism. Winner of the Kandinsky Prize 2013 for "Project of the Year". In 2015 at the 56th Venice Biennale
will represent Russia.
Year of birth: 1955
Artwork: Triptych. 1983
Date of sale: 12.03.2008
Price (GBP)1: 38,900
Total Capitalization (GBP): 85,000
Seat: 45
Average cost per job (GBP): 17,000
Number of repeat sales: 1

46. ​​Katya Filippova
An avant-garde fashion designer who became famous during perestroika. Decorated the windows of the Parisian department store Galeries Lafayette, was friends with Pierre Cardin.
Year of birth: 1958
"Artwork: Marina Ladynina" (from the series "Russian Hollywood")
Date of sale: 12.03.2008
Price (GBP)1: 38,900
Total Capitalization (GBP): 39,000
Seat: 49
Average cost per job (GBP): 39,000
Number of repeat sales: —

47. Boris Zaborov
Theater artist, book illustrator. In 1980 he emigrated to Paris, worked on costumes for the Comedie Francaise.
Year of birth: 1935
Artwork: "Communicator".1981
Date of sale: 30.10.2006
Price (GBP)1: 36,356
Total Capitalization (GBP): 67,000
Seat: 47
Average cost per job (GBP): 13,400
Number of repeat sales: 2

48. Rostislav Lebedev
Classical socialist artist, colleague (and workshop neighbor) of Boris Orlov and Dmitry Prigov. Creatively transformed the visual propaganda of the Soviet era.
Year of birth: 1946
Artwork: "Russian fairy tale". 1949
Date of sale: 03.06.2008
Price (GBP)1: 34,000
Total Capitalization (GBP): 122,000
Seat: 39
Average cost per job (GBP): 24,400
Number of repeat sales: 2

49. Andrey Filippov
Belongs to the Moscow conceptual school. The author of paintings and installations, united by the theme "Moscow - the Third Rome". Since 2009, together with Yuri Albert and Victor Skersis, he has been a member of the Cupid group.
Year of birth: 1959
Artwork: "Seven feet under the keel". 1988
Date of sale: 31.05.2006
Price (GBP)1: 33,600
Total Capitalization (GBP): 137,000
Seat: 37
Average cost per job (GBP): 12,455
Number of repeat sales: 3

50. Vladimir Shinkarev
The founder and ideologist of the Leningrad art group Mitki, in whose novel Mitki this term was first used. The novel was written out of boredom while working in the boiler room.
Year of birth: 1954
Artwork: Lenin Square I. 1999
Date of sale: 30.06.2008
Price (GBP)1: 32,450
Total Capitalization (GBP): 33,000
Seat: 50
Average cost per job (GBP): 16,500
Number of repeat sales: —

Sales vs Exhibitions

Recognition of the market and recognition of the professional community seem to many different things, but the division into "commercial" and "non-commercial" artists is very conditional. So, of the Russian artists exhibited over the past ten years at the Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art (and this is the pinnacle of their professional career), seven units (if you count by person, then 11 people) got into our rating. And the top 10 artists from the ranking either exhibited at the Venice Biennale before, or had solo exhibitions in major museums. As for those wonderful masters who were not included in the rating, their absence or not very outstanding sales are explained simply and tritely. Collectors are conservative and even from the most avant-garde artists prefer to buy paintings (paintings, objects or photographs that look like paintings) or sculptures (or objects that look like sculptures). There are no record-breaking performances or giant installations in our rating (installations are usually bought by museums, but the price there is museum, at a discount). That is why such stars as Andrey Monastyrsky, Oleg Kulik, Pavel Pepperstein(until recently, he mainly did graphics, and graphics are a priori cheaper than painting) or, for example, Nikolay Polissky, whose grandiose designs have not yet found understanding collectors.

In addition, the market is conservative also because recognition here comes slowly - note that in the top 10, all artists born in 1950 or older. That is, the promising participants of the Biennale still have everything ahead of them.

No. 20. $75,100,000. "Royal Red and Blue", Mark Rothko, sold in 2012.

The majestic canvas was one of eight works selected by the artist himself for his landmark solo exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago.

No. 19. $76,700,000. Massacre of the Innocents by Peter Paul Rubens, created in 1610.

The painting was purchased by Kenneth Thompson at Sotheby's in London in July 2002. A bright and dramatic work by Rubens can compete for the title of "most unexpected success". Christie valued this painting at only 5 million euros.

No. 18. $78,100,000. Ball at the Moulin de la Galette by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, painted 1876.

The work was sold in 1990, at that time it was listed as the second most expensive painting in the world ever sold. The masterpiece was owned by Ryoei Saito, Chairman of Daishowa Paper Manufacturing Co. He wanted the canvas to be cremated with him after his death, but the company ran into financial difficulties due to loan obligations, so the painting had to be used as collateral.

No. 17. 80 million dollars. "Turquoise Marilyn" by Andy Warhol, painted 1964, sold 2007

Acquired by Mr. Steve Cohen. The price was not confirmed, but this figure is considered to be true.

No. 16. 80 million dollars. "False Start", Jasper Johns, written 1959

The painting was owned by David Geffen, who sold it to Citadel investment group CEO Kenneth S. Griffin. It is recognized as the most expensive painting that was sold during the life of the artist, cult master Jasper Johns.

No. 15. $82,500,000. "Portrait of Doctor Gachet", Vincent van Gogh, 1890.

Japanese businessman Ryoei Saito bought the painting in 1990 at an auction. At that time, it was the most expensive painting in the world. In response to public outcry over Saito's wish to have the artwork cremated with him after his death, the businessman explained that he was thus expressing his selfless affection for the painting.

No. 14. $86,300,000. Triptych, Francis Bacon, 1976.

This three-part masterpiece by Bacon broke his previous record for sales of $52.68 million. The painting was purchased by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.

No. 13. $87,900,000. "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II", Gustav Klimt, 1912.

The only model depicted twice by Klimt and sold a few months after the first version. This is a portrait of Bloch-Bauer, one of four paintings that fetched a total of $192 million in 2006. The buyer is unknown.

No. 12. $95,200,000. Dora Maar with a cat, Pablo Picasso, 1941

Another painting by Picasso, which went under the hammer at a fabulous price. In 2006, it was acquired by a mysterious Russian anonymous, who at the same time bought works by Monet and Chagall worth $100 million.

No. 11. $104,200,000. "Boy with a pipe", Pablo Picasso, 1905.

This is the first painting to break the $100 million barrier in 2004. Oddly enough, the name of the person who showed such a keen interest in Picasso's portrait was never made public.

No. 10. $105,400,000. Silver Car Crash (Double Crash), Andy Warhol, 1932

This is the most expensive work of the famous legend of pop art, Andy Warhol. The painting became a star of modern art, going under the hammer at Sotheby's.

No. 9. $106,500,000. Nude, Green Leaves and Bust, Pablo Picasso, 1932

This sensual and colorful masterpiece is the most expensive Picasso ever sold at auction. The painting was in the collection of Mrs. Sidney F. Brody and has not been shown to the public since 1961.

No. 8. $110 million "Flag", Jasper Johns, 1958

The Flag is Jasper Johns most famous work. The artist painted his first American flag in 1954-55.

No. 7. $119,900,000. The Scream, Edvard Munch, 1895

This is the most unique and most colorful work of the four versions of Edvard Munch's masterpiece The Scream. Only one of them remains in private hands.

No. 6. $135,000,000. "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I", Gustav Klimt.

Maria Altmann sued for the right to own the painting, as Adele Bloch-Bauer bequeathed it to the Austrian State Gallery, and her husband later canceled the donation amid the events of World War II. Having entered into legal rights, Maria Altman sold the portrait to Ronald Lauder, who exhibited it in his gallery in New York.

No. 5. $137,500,000. "Woman III", Willem de Kooning.

Another painting sold by Geffen in 2006, but this time the buyer was billionaire Steven A. Cohen. This strange abstraction is part of a series of six Kooning masterpieces painted between 1951 and 1953.

No. 4. $140,000,000. "No. 5, 1948", Jackson Pollock.

According to The New York Times, film producer and collector David Geffen sold the painting to David Martinez, managing partner of FinTech Advisory, although the latter has not confirmed the information. The truth is shrouded in mystery.

Every year, the Artprice portal publishes a list of the most expensive artists in the world, whose works are sold at auctions for mind-boggling sums. As a rule, this rating includes the names of famous painters and sculptors, whose prices for work can make you dizzy. The top ten of the Artprcie rating included such masters as: Claude Monet, Qi Baishi, Alberto Giacometti and Jeff Koons. In 2014, the works of the ten most expensive artists and sculptors were sold at auction for a whopping $2.7 billion. The most expensive work, the sculpture "Chariot" by Giacometti, went under the hammer for $ 90 million. Want to know who was in the top five most expensive artists in the world? Read our post.

10 PHOTOS

The material was prepared with the support of the online hypermarket of creativity http://rosa.ua/catalog/s1161_molberti/, which offers a wide range of easels of the most popular types.

1. Fifth place among the most expensive artists in the world is occupied by Mark Rothko - an American artist, a representative of abstract expressionism, and also the creator of "color field painting". Last year, his works were sold at auction for a total of 249.2 million dollars, and the most expensive of them went under the hammer for 59 million dollars. (Photo: Getty Images).
2. The most expensive painting by Mark Rothko is "Orange, Red, Yellow" (pictured), which was sold at Christie's in May 2012 for $77.5 million. (Photo: Jeremy Yoder/flickr.com). 3. Fourth place in the ranking was taken by Gerhard Richter - this is the only living artist who was in the top five of the most expensive masters in the world. He surprises not so much with a high position in the ranking, but with his work, which is generally difficult to classify. Therefore, it is not surprising that his work is very popular and sold at auctions for ever higher amounts. (Photo: Getty Images).
4. In 2014, a total of 258 works by Gerhard Richter were sold for a total value of $254.3 million. His most expensive work was the 1989 Abstraktes Bild (pictured), which sold for $28.7 million at Christie's in February.
5. The third place among the most expensive artists in the world was taken by Francis Bacon - an Irish self-taught artist. Last year, 122 paintings were sold for $270 million. (Photo: Getty Images).
6. The most expensive painting by Francis Bacon was the triptych Three Sketches for a Portrait of Lucian Freud (1969), which went under the hammer in 2013 for $142.4 million. It is currently the most expensive piece of art in the history of the auction market. (Photo: Garrett Bithell/flickr.com).
7. In second place in the ranking of the most expensive artists in the world is Pablo Picasso, whose works were sold last year in the amount of 375 million dollars. (Photo: Getty Images).
8. The most expensive work of Pablo Picasso and the third in the list of the most expensive paintings in the world, is "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust" (pictured) in 1932, sold in 2010 for 106.5 million dollars. (Photo: James R fauxtoes/flickr.com).
9. The most expensive artist in the world in 2014 was Andy Warhol. His paintings have been sold for $569.5 million. For comparison, such a volume of sales could not be achieved last year throughout the French auction market of works of art. (Photo: Getty Images).
10. In 2014, Andy Warhol's most expensive painting was Triple Elvis (1963), which sold at auction for $81.9 million. (Photo: lar3/flickr.com).

Rating of the auction results of works of Russian art

1. Only public auction results were accepted for participation.
2. Belonging to Russian artists was determined by the place of birth. Born in the Russian Empire or in the USSR - that means a Russian artist, without regard to ethnic origin and discounts on how fate developed in the future. For example, the fact that Kandinsky had both Russian and German citizenship in different years, and he died with French citizenship, is no reason to doubt that the artist is Russian.
3. Rule: one artist - one picture. That is, the situation when, strictly speaking, all the first places would have to be assigned to the works of Mark Rothko, is resolved as follows: we leave only the most expensive work, and ignore all other results for the paintings of this artist.

The rating is based on the results, taking into account the buyer's premium (Buyers Premium), expressed in dollars (figures shown at European auctions, that is, in pounds or euros, are converted into dollars at the exchange rate on the day of trading). Therefore, neither Goncharova's Spaniard, sold on February 2, 2010 for £6.43 million, nor Aivazovsky's View of Constantinople and the Bosporus Strait, for which £3.23 million was paid on April 24, 2012, were included in the rating. Yes, in the transaction currency, i.e. in pounds, they are more expensive than the paintings that took a place in the ranking, but they were not lucky with the dollar.

1. $86.88 million Mark Rothko. Orange, Red, Yellow (1961)

One of the most mysterious contemporary artists. His life path is as if woven from contradictions - in creative searches, in actions, in gestures ... Considered one of the ideologists and, of course, the key figure in American abstract expressionism, Rothko could not stand it when his works were called abstract. In the past, who knew well what life was like from hand to mouth, he once defiantly returned to customers an absolutely fantastic advance payment in terms of current money, leaving himself an almost completely completed work. Having waited for his success and the opportunity to earn a living by painting for almost fifty years, he repeatedly refused people who could destroy his career if they wanted to. At least a socialist at heart, who shared the ideas of Marx, hostile to the rich and wealth, Rothko eventually became the author of the most expensive paintings in the world, which actually turned into an attribute of the high status of their owners. (It's no joke, the record "White Center", sold for $65 million, came from the Rockefeller family.) Dreaming of being recognized by a mass audience, he eventually became the creator of paintings that are still truly understandable only to a circle of intellectuals and connoisseurs. Finally, the artist, who was looking for a conversation with the Lord through the music of his canvases, the artist whose works became the central element in the design of the church of all religions, ended his life path with a completely desperate act of theomachism...

Rothko, who remembered the Pale of Settlement and the Cossacks, might have been surprised that they were also proud of him as Russian artists. However, there was enough anti-Semitism in America in the 1930s - it was no accident that the artist “cut down” the family name Rotkovich. But we call it Russian not without reason. For starters, on the fact of birth. Latvian Dvinsk, the current Daugavpils, at the time of the birth of Markus Rotkovich, is part of Russia and will remain so until the collapse of the empire, until 1918. True, Rothko will no longer see the revolution. In 1913, the boy was taken to the United States, the family moved to Portland, Oregon. That is, childhood and adolescence passed in Russia, life perception and outlook were formed here. In addition to the fact that he was born here, Rothko is associated with Russia, we note, both ideological themes and conflicts. It is known that he appreciated the works of Dostoevsky. And even the vices that Rothko indulged in are associated in the world for some reason with Russians. Depression in the West is called for some reason "Russian disease". Which is not an argument, of course, but one more touch to the integrity of the nature of the Russian artist.

Rothko went to innovative discoveries in painting for a long 15 years. Having gone through many figurative hobbies, including surrealism and figurative expressionism, in the mid-1940s he simplified the structure of his paintings to the utmost, limiting the expressive means to a few colorful blocks that form the composition. The intellectual basis of his work is almost always a matter of interpretation. Rothko usually did not give direct answers, counting on the viewer's complicity in understanding the work. The only thing he definitely counted on was the emotional work of the viewer. His paintings are not for rest, not for relaxation and not for "visual massage". They are designed for compassion. Some see them as windows that allow you to look into the soul of the viewer, others - doors to another world. There is an opinion (perhaps the closest to the truth) that his color fields are metaphorical images of a god.

The decorative power of "color fields" is explained by a number of special techniques used by Rothko. His paintings do not tolerate massive frames - at most thin die-edges in the color of the canvas. The artist deliberately tinted the edges of the paintings in a gradient so that the picturesque field lost its borders. The fuzzy borders of the inner squares are also a technique, a way to create the effect of trembling without contrast, an apparent overlap of color blocks, pulsing spots, like the flickering of light from electric lamps. This gentle dissolution of color into color was especially successful in oil, until Rothko's switch to opaque acrylic in the late sixties. And the found effect of electrical pulsation is enhanced if you look at pictures from a close distance. As conceived by the artist, three-meter canvases are best viewed by the viewer from a distance of no more than half a meter.

Today, Rothko's paintings are the pride of any well-known contemporary art museum. So, in the English Tate Gallery there is a Rothko room, in which nine paintings from those that were written under contract with the Four Seasons restaurant live. This project is associated with a rather revealing story for Rothko's character. In 1959, the owners of the fashionable restaurant Vremena Goda, which opened in the unusual New York skyscraper Seagram Building (after the name of the alcohol manufacturer), turned to the artist on the recommendation. The amount of the contract in terms of current money was almost $ 3 million - a very significant fee even for an accomplished, recognized artist, which Rothko was already at that time. However, when the work was almost finished, Rothko unexpectedly returned the advance and refused to hand it over to the customer. Among the main reasons for the sudden act, biographers considered an unwillingness to please the ruling class and entertain the rich at dinner. There is also an opinion that Rothko was upset when he learned that ordinary employees working in the building would not see his paintings. However, the latest version looks too romantic.

Almost 10 years later, Rothko donated some of the canvases prepared for the Four Seasons to London's Tate Gallery. In a bitter twist of fate, on February 25, 1970, the day the boxes of paintings reached the English port, the artist was found dead in his studio, with his veins cut and (apparently to guarantee) a huge dose of sleeping pills in his stomach.

Today, Rothko's work is experiencing another wave of sincere interest. Seminars are held, exhibitions are opened, monographs are published. On the bank of the Daugava, in the homeland of the artist, a monument was erected.

Rothko's works on the market are not exceptionally rare (as, for example, Malevich's painting). Every year, at auctions of his paintings alone, not counting graphics, about 10-15 pieces are exhibited. That is, not a deficit, but millions and tens of millions of dollars are paid for them. And such prices are hardly accidental. Rather, it is a tribute to his innovation, a desire to discover new semantic layers and join the creative phenomenon of one of the most mysterious Russian artists.

May 8, 2012 at the auction of post-war and contemporary art Christie's canvas "Orange, Red, Yellow" in 1961 went for $ 86.88 million, including commission. The work comes from the collection of the Pennsylvania philanthropist David Pinkus. David and his wife Gerry bought the 2.4 x 2.1 meter work from the Marlborough Gallery and then loaned it to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for a long time. The painting "Orange, Red, Yellow" became not only the most expensive work of the artist of Russian origin, but also the most expensive piece of post-war and contemporary art sold at public auction.

2. $60.00 million Kazimir Malevich. Suprematist Composition (1916)

During her long life, first together with Robert, and after his death in 1941 alone, Sonya managed to try out many genres in art. She was engaged in painting, book illustration, theatrical sketches (in particular, she designed the scenery for Diaghilev's ballet Cleopatra), fashion design, interior design, patterns on textiles, and even car tuning.

Early portraits and abstractions by Sonia Delaunay from the 1900s-10s, as well as the works of the Color Rhythms series from the 1950s-60s, are very popular at international and national French auctions. Their prices often reach several hundred thousand dollars. The artist's main record was set more than 10 years ago - on June 14, 2002 at the Calmels Cohen Paris auction in Paris. Then, for €4.6 million, the abstract work “Market in Minho” was sold, written in 1915, during the life of the Delaunay couple in Spain (1914–1920).

32. $4.30 million Mikhail Nesterov. Vision to the youth Bartholomew (1922)

If we evaluate our artists according to a kind of “Russianness” scale, then Mikhail Vasilievich Nesterov (1862–1942) can safely be placed somewhere at the top of the list. His paintings depicting saints, monks, nuns in a lyrical "Nesterov" landscape, completely in tune with the highly spiritual mood of the characters, have become a unique phenomenon in the history of Russian art. In his canvases, Nesterov spoke about Holy Russia, about her special spiritual path. The artist, in his own words, "avoided depicting strong passions, preferring to them a modest landscape, a person living an inner spiritual life in the arms of our mother nature." And according to Alexander Benois, Nesterov, along with Surikov, was the only Russian artist who at least partly approached the lofty divine words of "Idiot" and "Karamazovs".

The special style and religiosity of Nesterov's painting developed from many factors. The upbringing in a patriarchal, pious merchant family in the city of Ufa with its typically Russian landscapes, and years of study with the Wanderers Perov, Savrasov and Pryanishnikov at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (from them he adopted the idea of ​​art that touches the mind and heart) and from Pavel Chistyakov at the Academy of Arts (here he took the technique of academic drawing), and trips to Europe for inspiration, and a deep personal drama (the death of his beloved wife Maria a day after the birth of their daughter Olga).

As a result, by the end of the 1880s - the beginning of the 1890s, Nesterov had already found his subject, and just at that time he wrote "The Vision of the Youth Bartholomew" (1889-1890). The plot of the picture is taken from the Life of St. Sergius. The youth Bartholomew (the future Sergius of Radonezh) met an angel in the guise of a monk and received God's blessing from him to comprehend the Holy Scripture and surpass his brothers and peers. The picture is imbued with a sense of the miraculous - it is not only and not so much in the figures of Bartholomew and the Holy Elder, but also in the surrounding landscape, in a special festive and spiritual way.

In his declining years, the artist more than once called Bartholomew his main work: “... if in thirty, fifty years after my death he will still say something to people, then he is alive, then I am also alive.” The painting became a sensation at the 18th exhibition of the Wanderers and instantly made the young Ufa artist famous (Nesterov was not even thirty at the time). "Vision ..." was acquired by P. M. Tretyakov in his collection, despite attempts to dissuade him from outside, in the words of Nesterov, "orthodox Wanderers", who correctly noticed in the work the undermining of the "rationalist" foundations of the movement. However, the artist had already taken his own course in art, which eventually made him famous.

With the advent of Soviet power for Nesterov with his religious painting, hard times have come. The artist switched to portraits (fortunately, he had the opportunity to paint only people deeply sympathetic to him), but he did not even dare to think about previous subjects. However, when rumors spread in the early 1920s that a major exhibition of Russian art was being prepared in America, Nesterov quickly decided to participate in the hope of attracting a new audience. He painted several works for the exhibition, including the author's repetition of "The Vision of the Young Bartholomew" (1922), which was called "The Vision of St. Sergius in Boyhood" in the American press. The new version is smaller in size (91 × 109) compared to the Tretyakov one (160 × 211), the moon appeared in the sky, the colors of the landscape are somewhat darker, and there is more seriousness in the face of the lad Bartholomew. Nesterov, as it were, sums up with this picture the big changes that have taken place since the writing of the first "Vision ...".

Nesterov's paintings were among the few at the 1924 New York Exhibition of Russian Art that were purchased. "The Vision of the Young Bartholomew" was included in the collection of well-known collectors and patrons of Nicholas Roerich - Louis and Nettie Horsch. From then until 2007, the work was inherited in this family. And finally, on April 17, 2007, at the Russian auction at Sotheby's, the painting was put up with an estimate of $2-3 million and easily exceeded it. The final price of the hammer, which became a record for Nesterov, was $4.30 million. With this result, he entered our rating.

33. $4.05 million Vera Rokhlina. Gamblers (1919)

Vera Nikolaevna Rokhlina (Schlesinger) is another remarkable artist of the Russian emigration who was included in our rating along with Natalia Goncharova, Tamara Lempitskaya and Sonia Delaunay. Information about the life of the artist is very scarce, her biography is still waiting for its researcher. It is known that Vera Schlesinger was born in 1896 in Moscow in the family of a Russian and a French woman from Burgundy. She studied in Moscow with Ilya Mashkov and was almost his favorite student, and then took lessons in Kyiv with Alexandra Exter. In 1918 she married the lawyer S. Z. Rokhlin and went with him to Tiflis. From there, in the early 1920s, the couple moved to France, where Vera began to actively exhibit at the Autumn Salon, the Salon of Independents and the Tuileries Salon. In her painting style, at first she followed the ideas of cubism and post-impressionism, but by the early 1930s she had already developed her own style, which one French magazine called "the artistic balance between Courbet and Renoir." In those years, Vera already lived separately from her husband, in Montparnasse, had couturier Paul Poiret among her admirers, she chose female portraits and nudes as the main theme in painting, which, perhaps, was facilitated by her acquaintance with Zinaida Serebryakova (even a portrait of a naked Serebryakova brush by Rokhlina has been preserved), and personal exhibitions of the artist were held in Parisian galleries. But in April 1934, 38-year-old Vera Rokhlin committed suicide. What made a woman in her prime, who has already achieved a lot in the creative field, take her own life, remains a mystery. Her untimely death was called the biggest loss on the art scene in Paris in those years.

Rokhlina's heritage is located mainly abroad, where Vera spent the last 13 years of her life and where her talent was fully revealed. In the 1990s and early 2000s, French museums and galleries began to hold solo exhibitions of Rokhlina and include her work in group exhibitions by artists of the School of Paris. Collectors learned about her, her works began to be sold at auctions, and quite well. The peak of sales and prices came in 2007-2008, when about a hundred thousand dollars for a good format painting by Rokhlina became commonplace. And on June 24, 2008, at the evening auction of impressionists and modernists at Christie's in London, Vera Rokhlina's cubist painting "Gamblers", written before emigration, in 1919, was unexpectedly sold 8 times more expensive than the estimate - for £ 2.057 million ($ 4.05 million) at an estimate of £ 250-350 thousand

34. $4.02 million Mikhail Klodt. Night in Normandy (1861)

35. $3.97 million. Pavel Kuznetsov. Eastern city. Bukhara (1912)

For Pavel Varfolomeevich Kuznetsov (1878–1968), the son of an icon painter from the city of Saratov, a graduate of the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (where he studied with Arkhipov, Serov and Korovin), one of the organizers of the Blue Rose association, one of the main and, Definitely, the East has become the most recognized theme of creativity among the public. When Pavel Kuznetsov's first symbolist period of the 1900s with semi-fantastic images of "Fountains", "Awakenings" and "Births" exhausted itself, the artist went to the East for inspiration. He remembered how, as a child, he visited his grandfather in the trans-Volga steppes and watched the life of nomads. “Suddenly remembered the steppes and went to the Kirghiz,” wrote Kuznetsov. From 1909 to 1914, Kuznetsov spent several months in the Kyrgyz steppes, with nomads, imbued with their way of life and accepting them with his kindred, "Scythian" soul. In 1912-1913, the artist traveled through the cities of Central Asia, lived in Bukhara, Samarkand, the foothills of the Pamirs. In the 1920s, the exploration of the East continued already in the Transcaucasus and the Crimea.

The result of these eastern travels was a series of stunning paintings, in which one can feel the "blue blue" love for the blue scale, and the symbolism of icons and temple frescoes close to the artist since childhood, and the perceived experience of such artists as Gauguin, Andre Derain and Georges Braque, and, well, of course, all the magic of the East. Oriental paintings by Kuznetsov were warmly received not only in Russia, but also at exhibitions in Paris and New York.

A major creative success was the cycle of paintings “Eastern City” painted in Bukhara in 1912. One of the largest paintings in the series “Eastern City. Bukhara" in June 2014 came to auction MacDougall's with an estimate of £ 1.9-3 million. Work with impeccable provenance and exhibition history: was bought directly from the artist; has not changed its place of residence since the mid-1950s; participated in exhibitions of the "World of Art", an exhibition of Soviet art in Japan, as well as in all major lifetime and posthumous retrospectives of the artist. As a result, Kuznetsov paid a record £2.37 million ($3.97 million) for the painting.

36. $3.82 million Alexander Deineka. Heroes of the First Five-Year Plan (1936)

37. $3.72 million. Boris Grigoriev. Shepherd from the Hills (1920)

Boris Dmitrievich Grigoriev (1886–1939) emigrated from Russia in 1919. Abroad, he became one of the most famous Russian artists, but at the same time he was forgotten at home for many decades, and his first exhibitions in the USSR took place only in the late 1980s. But today he is one of the most sought-after and highly regarded authors on the Russian art market, his works, both pictorial and graphic, are sold for hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars.

The artist was extremely hardworking, in 1926 he wrote to the poet Kamensky: “Now I am the first master in the world.<…>I do not apologize for these phrases. You have to know who you are, otherwise you won't know what to do. Yes, and my life is holy from labor above and feelings above, and my 40 years prove this. I am not afraid of any competition, any order, any topic, any size and any speed.”

Probably the most famous are his cycles "Rasey" and "Faces of Russia" - very close in spirit and differing only in that the first was created before emigration, and the second already in Paris. In these cycles, we are presented with a gallery of types (“faces”) of the Russian peasantry: old men, women, children look sullenly directly at the viewer, they attract the eye and at the same time repel it. Grigoriev was by no means inclined to idealize or embellish those whom he painted, on the contrary, sometimes he brings the images to the grotesque. Among the "faces" painted already in exile, portraits of Grigoriev's contemporaries - poets, actors of the Art Theater, as well as self-portraits are added to peasant portraits. The image of the peasant "Raseya" expanded to a generalizing image of an abandoned, but not forgotten Motherland.

One of these portraits - the poet Nikolai Klyuev in the form of a shepherd - became the most expensive painting by Boris Grigoriev. At Sotheby's on November 3, 2008, The Shepherd of the Hills, 1920, was sold for $3.72 million with an estimate of $2.5–3.5 million. The portrait is an author's copy of a lost 1918 portrait.

Editorial site

Attention! All materials of the site and database of auction results of the site, including illustrated reference information about works sold at auctions, are intended for use solely in accordance with Art. 1274 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. Use for commercial purposes or in violation of the rules established by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation is not allowed. The site is not responsible for the content of materials submitted by third parties. In case of violation of the rights of third parties, the site administration reserves the right to remove them from the site and from the database based on the request of the authorized body.

If you think that all great artists are in the past, then you have no idea how wrong you are. In this article, you will learn about the most famous and talented artists of our time. And, believe me, their works will sit in your memory no less deeply than the works of the maestro from past eras.

Wojciech Babski

Wojciech Babski is a contemporary Polish artist. He graduated from the Silesian Polytechnic Institute, but connected himself with. Lately he has been painting mostly women. Focuses on the manifestation of emotions, seeks to obtain the greatest possible effect by simple means.

Loves color, but often uses shades of black and gray to achieve the best impression. Not afraid to experiment with new techniques. Recently, he has been gaining more and more popularity abroad, mainly in the UK, where he successfully sells his works, which can already be found in many private collections. In addition to art, he is interested in cosmology and philosophy. Listens to jazz. Currently lives and works in Katowice.

Warren Chang

Warren Chang is a contemporary American artist. Born in 1957 and raised in Monterey, California, he graduated magna cum laude from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena in 1981 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Fine Arts. For the next two decades, he worked as an illustrator for various companies in California and New York before starting his career as a professional artist in 2009.

His realistic paintings can be divided into two main categories: biographical interior paintings and paintings depicting working people. His interest in this style of painting is rooted in the work of the 16th-century artist Jan Vermeer, and extends to objects, self-portraits, portraits of family members, friends, students, studio, classroom and home interiors. His goal is to create mood and emotion in his realistic paintings through the manipulation of light and the use of muted colors.

Chang became famous after the transition to traditional visual arts. Over the past 12 years, he has earned numerous awards and honors, the most prestigious being the Master Signature from the Oil Painters Association of America, the largest oil painting community in the United States. Only one person out of 50 is honored with the opportunity to receive this award. Currently, Warren lives in Monterey and works in his studio, he also teaches (known as a talented teacher) at the San Francisco Academy of the Arts.

Aurelio Bruni

Aurelio Bruni is an Italian artist. Born in Blair, October 15, 1955. Graduated with a degree in scenography from the Art Institute in Spoleto. As an artist, he is self-taught, as he independently “built the house of knowledge” on the foundation laid back in school. He began painting in oils at the age of 19. Currently lives and works in Umbria.

Bruni's early painting is rooted in surrealism, but over time he begins to focus on the proximity of lyrical romanticism and symbolism, reinforcing this combination with the exquisite refinement and purity of his characters. Animate and inanimate objects acquire equal dignity and look almost hyper-realistic, but at the same time, they do not hide behind a curtain, but allow you to see the essence of your soul. Versatility and sophistication, sensuality and loneliness, thoughtfulness and fruitfulness are the spirit of Aurelio Bruni, nourished by the splendor of art and the harmony of music.

Aleksander Balos

Alkasandr Balos is a contemporary Polish artist specializing in oil painting. Born in 1970 in Gliwice, Poland, but since 1989 he has been living and working in the USA, in the city of Shasta, California.

As a child, he studied art under the guidance of his father Jan, a self-taught artist and sculptor, so from an early age, artistic activity received full support from both parents. In 1989, at the age of eighteen, Balos left Poland for the United States, where his schoolteacher and part-time artist Cathy Gaggliardi encouraged Alcasander to enroll in art school. Balos then received a full scholarship to the University of Milwaukee Wisconsin, where he studied painting with philosophy professor Harry Rosin.

After completing his studies in 1995 with a bachelor's degree, Balos moved to Chicago to study at the School of Fine Arts, whose methods are based on the work of Jacques-Louis David. Figurative realism and portraiture made up the bulk of Balos' work in the 90s and early 2000s. Today, Balos uses the human figure to highlight the features and shortcomings of human existence, without offering any solutions.

The plot compositions of his paintings are intended to be independently interpreted by the viewer, only then the canvases will acquire their true temporal and subjective meaning. In 2005, the artist moved to Northern California, since then the scope of his work has expanded significantly and now includes freer methods of painting, including abstraction and various multimedia styles that help express the ideas and ideals of being through painting.

Alyssa Monks

Alyssa Monks is a contemporary American artist. She was born in 1977 in Ridgewood, New Jersey. She became interested in painting when she was still a child. She attended The New School in New York and Montclair State University, and graduated from Boston College in 1999 with a bachelor's degree. At the same time, she studied painting at the Lorenzo Medici Academy in Florence.

Then she continued her studies under the program for a master's degree at the New York Academy of Art, in the Department of Figurative Art, graduating in 2001. She graduated from Fullerton College in 2006. She briefly lectured at universities and educational institutions around the country, and taught painting at the New York Academy of Art, as well as Montclair State University and Lyme Academy College of Art.

“Using filters such as glass, vinyl, water and steam, I distort the human body. These filters allow you to create large areas of abstract design, with islands of color peeking through them - parts of the human body.

My paintings change the modern look at the already established, traditional poses and gestures of bathing women. They could tell an attentive viewer a lot about such seemingly self-evident things as the benefits of swimming, dancing, and so on. My characters are pressed against the glass of the shower cabin window, distorting their own body, realizing that they thereby influence the notorious male look at a naked woman. Thick layers of paint are mixed together to mimic glass, steam, water and flesh from afar. Up close, however, the amazing physical properties of oil paint become apparent. By experimenting with layers of paint and color, I find the moment when abstract strokes become something else.

When I first started painting the human body, I was immediately fascinated and even obsessed with it and felt that I had to make my paintings as realistic as possible. I "professed" realism until it began to unravel and deconstruct itself. Now I am exploring the possibilities and potential of a style of painting where representational painting and abstraction meet – if both styles can coexist at the same moment in time, I will.”

Antonio Finelli

Italian artist - time watcher” – Antonio Finelli was born on February 23, 1985. Currently lives and works in Italy between Rome and Campobasso. His works have been exhibited in several galleries in Italy and abroad: Rome, Florence, Novara, Genoa, Palermo, Istanbul, Ankara, New York, and they can also be found in private and public collections.

Pencil drawings " Watcher of time” Antonio Finelli send us on an eternal journey through the inner world of human temporality and the rigorous analysis of this world associated with it, the main element of which is the passage through time and the traces it inflicts on the skin.

Finelli paints portraits of people of any age, gender and nationality, whose facial expressions indicate the passage through time, and the artist also hopes to find evidence of the ruthlessness of time on the bodies of his characters. Antonio defines his works with one general title: “Self-Portrait”, because in his pencil drawings he not only depicts a person, but allows the viewer to contemplate the real results of the passage of time inside a person.

Flaminia Carloni

Flaminia Carloni is a 37-year-old Italian artist, the daughter of a diplomat. She has three children. Twelve years she lived in Rome, three years in England and France. Received a degree in art history from the BD School of Art. Then she received a diploma in the specialty restorer of works of art. Before finding her calling and devoting herself entirely to painting, she worked as a journalist, colorist, designer, and actress.

Flaminia's passion for painting arose as a child. Her main medium is oil because she loves “coiffer la pate” and also plays with the material. She learned a similar technique in the works of the artist Pascal Torua. Flaminia is inspired by the great masters of painting such as Balthus, Hopper, and François Legrand, as well as various art movements: street art, Chinese realism, surrealism and renaissance realism. Her favorite artist is Caravaggio. Her dream is to discover the therapeutic power of art.

Denis Chernov

Denis Chernov is a talented Ukrainian artist, born in 1978 in Sambir, Lviv region, Ukraine. After graduating from the Kharkov Art College in 1998, he stayed in Kharkov, where he currently lives and works. He also studied at the Kharkov State Academy of Design and Arts, Department of Graphics, graduated in 2004.

He regularly participates in art exhibitions, at the moment there have been more than sixty of them, both in Ukraine and abroad. Most of Denis Chernov's works are kept in private collections in Ukraine, Russia, Italy, England, Spain, Greece, France, USA, Canada and Japan. Some of the works were sold at Christie's.

Denis works in a wide range of graphic and painting techniques. Pencil drawings are one of his favorite painting methods, the list of topics of his pencil drawings is also very diverse, he paints landscapes, portraits, nudes, genre compositions, book illustrations, literary and historical reconstructions and fantasies.