15 Van Gogh Masterpieces that Set Auction Records

On April 24, 1985, Van Gogh’s Landscape with Rising Sun, created in 1889 during his yearlong stay at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, sold for $9.9 million at Sotheby’s New York. This sale established a record for Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works, exceeding the previous Van Gogh auction high of $5.7 million. The painting portrays a wheat field in the early morning, viewed from the artist’s room on the first floor of the hospital. Before Florence J. Gould purchased it in 1965, the work was owned by physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who inherited it from his father Julius, a Viennese collector. The painting was among the earliest Van Gogh works exhibited internationally and was part of the Museum of Modern Art’s first exhibition in 1929. Despite initial doubts about its market appeal, the sale underscored growing enthusiasm for Van Gogh’s landscapes and signaled a turning point in the valuation of his art.

This work from one of Van Gogh’s celebrated Sunflowers series of 1888 sold for approximately $39.9 million at Christie’s London on March 31, 1987, a record at the time for any painting sold at auction. The buyer was Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance Co. of Japan (now Sompo), which donated the painting to the Sompo Museum of Art in Tokyo, where it remains today. Executed in vibrant yellows with expressive brushwork, the painting was created to decorate Van Gogh’s house in Arles before a visit by Paul Gauguin, symbolizing the artist’s optimism and creative aspirations during this fertile period in the South of France.

On November 11, 1987, Sotheby’s New York auctioned Irises, painted in May 1889 within days of Van Gogh’s voluntary admission to the Saint-Rémy-de-Provence asylum. The hammer dropped at $49 million, with a 10 percent commission bringing the total to $53.9 million. The winning bidder turned out to be Australian businessman Alan Bond, who was unable to complete the transaction. The painting was acquired for an undisclosed sum about three years later by the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, where it remains today. Previously it had been in the collection of Joan Whitney Payson. Its bold colors and fluid brushwork mark a pivotal moment in Van Gogh’s artistic recovery, reflecting the emotional intensity and renewed vitality he found in nature during his time at the asylum. The dramatic sale drew a packed house and global media attention, cementing the ascendance of Van Gogh as a market titan.

Completed in Auvers-sur-Oise shortly before Van  Gogh’s death, Portrait of Dr. Gachet (1890) was hammered down for $82.5 million at Sotheby’s New York on May 16, 1990, setting a world auction record at the time. The buyer was Japanese businessman Ryoei Saito, who claimed he intended to have the painting cremated with him upon his death. This depiction of Dr. Paul Gachet, Van Gogh’s physician, shows him resting his head on one hand, surrounded by foxglove flowers and books. Its emotional intensity and the limited availability of works by the artist made it one of the most coveted Van Gogh portraits ever to appear on the market. After Saito’s death, in 1996, the painting’s whereabouts become uncertain. Reports suggest that it was sold to Austrian-born investment manager Wolfgang Flöttl in 1997 or 1998, but the current owner and location of the painting remain unknown.

This canvas, painted in 1890 during Van Gogh’s final months in Auvers-sur-Oise, depicts a seated woman against a backdrop of wheat stalks and poppies. The muted color palette and contemplative mood mark a departure from the artist’s earlier, more turbulent portraits. American casino magnate Stephen A. Wynn made news when he acquired the painting in 1997 for $47.8 million; in 2025 Wynn sold it privately, along with a painting by Paul Gaugin, to hedge fund manager Steven A. Cohen for a combined price of more than $100 million. These private transactions underscore Van Gogh’s enduring prominence and appeal in the art market, particularly for works from the last two years of his life.

Painted in September 1889 at the asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, this work is one of the few self-portraits in which Van Gogh appears with no facial hair. Created shortly after he shaved his beard, it may have been intended as a gift for his mother to show that he was in better health. The intense blue-green background, combined with his direct, piercing gaze, gives the painting a raw emotional power that distinguishes the artist’s late works. Executed with his signature impasto technique, the canvas reflects both vulnerability and resolve during a fraught period in the artist’s life. It achieved $71.5 million at Christie’s New York in November 19, 1998. The work had previously been held in the collection of German entrepreneur Jacques Koerfer and was rarely exhibited, adding to its desirability.

Van Gogh’s The Avenue of Les Alyscamps was painted in November 1888 during his time in Arles, shortly after his friend Paul Gauguin came to stay with him. The work depicts in vibrant colors the central thoroughfare of the ancient Roman burial ground at Alyscamps, near Arles. It was created during a brief period of collaboration between the two artists, who captured the site, each from different viewpoints. After years in private collections, the painting was sold at Christie’s in New York on May 12, 2003, for $12 million. When it returned to auction at Sotheby’s New York on November 10, 2015, it fetched $66 million. The buyer was officially anonymous, though believed to be a Chinese collector. This dramatic increase reflects the continuing high demand for Van Gogh’s art.

On November 5, 2013, a rare pen-and-ink drawing by Van Gogh depicting a corner of the house in Arles where the artist rented rooms sold at Christie’s London for approximately $5.4 million, reaching four times the price it had fetched a decade before. Executed in September 1888 and sent to his brother Theo, the drawing captures Van Gogh’s vision for the artist community he hoped to establish in the South of France. The work remained in the Van Gogh family for decades before entering a Dutch private collection. Its sale offered collectors a rare glimpse into the artist’s Arles period through one of his original letters.

Van Gogh’s Still Life, Vase with Daisies and Poppies, completed in June 1890 just weeks before his death, achieved $61.8 million at Sotheby’s New York, exceeding its estimate by over $10 million. The artist created this dramatic and colorful canvas while staying at the home of his physician, Dr. Paul Gachet. Garchet was an art collector and amateur painter, and Van Gogh is thought to have drawn inspiration from some of the works in the doctor’s house, including Cezanne’s flower paintings. He may even have given the still life in exchange for treatment.

This rare piece is one of the few Van Gogh paintings sold during his lifetime. It later entered the collection of Conger Goodyear, a founder of the Museum of Modern Art, before moving through private hands and being exhibited at the Albright Knox Art Gallery for over 30 years. The buyer was Chinese billionaire and entertainment mogul Wang Zhongjun, an amateur artist with a fondness for flower-filled compositions. This sale reflects a shift in the Van Gogh market, with East Asian collectors—especially in China.

Van Gogh’s Landscape Under a Stormy Sky was painted in April 1889 in Arles and sold for $54 million at Sotheby’s, New York, on 5 November 2015. It was completed a few months after Van Gogh famously mutilated his ear in December 1888 and shortly before he admitted himself to the asylum at Saint-Rémy. The painting depicts a meadow filled with spring flowers, with a man and a woman walking on the left beneath heavy grey clouds. It was one of the last landscapes Van Gogh painted in Arles and is referred to in his letters to his brother Theo in mid-April 1889 as one of six spring studies. The canvas was later retrieved from Arles and sent to Theo in Paris in July. The sky, painted in thick expressive strokes, is unusual in Van Gogh’s Arles work and may reflect the difficult circumstances of his final months there.

Painted in early September 1889 during Van Gogh’s stay at the asylum of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Laborer in a Field features a lone peasant working beneath a vast, swirling sky. After a devastating epileptic episode that kept him away from painting for more than six weeks, Van Gogh returned to his brushes with renewed vigor and hope, using the view from his room—a wheat field enclosed by a stone wall—as inspiration. The painting’s earth tones and rhythmic brushwork capture not only its subject’s labor but also the artist’s own struggle toward creative and emotional renewal. This work, painted during one of the most turbulent yet fruitful periods of Van Gogh’s life, sold for $81.3 million at Christie’s New York on November 13, 2017, having passed through the estate of billionaire collectors Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass. The painting’s return to the market after decades away attracted strong collector interest, reflecting both its artistic and historical significance.

On May 13, 2021, Christie’s New York auctioned Van Gogh’s Bridge at Trinquetaille, completed in June 1888 during his productive Arles period. The painting achieved $37.4 million, including buyer’s premium, surpassing its pre-sale high estimate of $35 million. It depicts the road bridge to Trinquetaille across the Rhône River, near the house where Van Gogh lived for a time with Paul Gauguin. Notably, Van Gogh described the sky and river as “the color of absinthe,” a striking greenish yellow, reflecting his bold palette and emotional intensity. The scene includes figures that the painter called “ruffians of the Rue du bout d’Arles,” referencing the town’s red-light district. After his death, the painting passed through the hands of several owners, including his brother Theo, the British art collector Elizabeth Workman, and Saudi businessman Akram Ojjeh. The painting is currently held in a private collection.

Completed in 1889 at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, Wood Cabins Among the Olive Trees and Cypresses showcases Van Gogh’s distinctive impasto technique, depicting two modest buildings in vibrant natural surroundings. This pastoral scene reflects the artist’s deep connection to the Provençal landscape during his prolific asylum period. The painting fetched $71.35 million at Christie’s New York on November 11, 2021, highlighting sustained collector enthusiasm for Van Gogh’s landscapes. Until then, it had been held in the collection of the Texas oilman Edwin Cox.  

Van Gogh’s Fields near Les Alpilles (1889) sold for $52 million at Christie’s in New York on May 12, 2022. Painted near the asylum at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, the work depicts a wheat field with lilac mountains behind it and a solitary almond tree in its center. The tree’s stark outline suggests Van Gogh’s admiration for Japanese prints. Until the sale, it had long been hidden in private collections, including that of it fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé, who had farmhouses near Saint-Rémy named after Van Gogh. It is rightly celebrated for its vivid brushwork and evocative colors capturing late autumn in the French countryside.

Orchard with Cypresses (1888), painted during Van Gogh’s prolific Arles period, sold for $117.2 million at Christie’s New York on November 10, 2022, setting a record for the artist that still stands. The canvas portrays a vibrant Provençal landscape with twisting olive trees, dark cypresses, and a luminous sky rendered in thick, energetic brushstrokes. Before its record-breaking sale, the work was part of the collection owned by Paul G. Allen, the Microsoft cofounder. Its well-preserved condition, coupled with an exceptional provenance, contributed to its historic result at auction.