This is a list of the highest known prices paid for sculptures.
Contents
Most valuable sculpture
Alberto Giacometti's L'Homme au doigt was auctioned for $141.3m at Christie's in May 2015, the highest price for any sculpture at auction.
Giacometti's L'Homme qui marche I had previously achieved the highest price of any sculpture when it was auctioned by Sotheby's in February 2010. Selling for US$104.3 million, it ranks amongst the most valuable works of art.
In 2005, Constantin Brâncuși's Bird in Space broke records when it sold for $27.5 million. The record stood for two years until a highly regarded work of antiquity surpassed the price. Artemis and the Stag, found in the 1920s at a Roman construction site, fetched $28.6 million in June 2007. The record would only stand for a few months, with a work by Pablo Picasso, Tete de femme (Dora Maar), surpassing it by half a million US dollars in November 2007.
In December 2007, the sale of the Guennol Lioness, a statue from around 3000 BC, nearly doubled the previous record price when it sold for $57.2 million. It is the third most valuable sculpture and the most valuable piece from antiquity.
Damien Hirst has claimed that his sculpture For the Love of God, which consists of a platinum cast of a human skull encrusted with 8,601 flawless diamonds, was sold for £50 million (around US$75 million) in August 2007. The truth of this private sale, which was to an unknown consortium, has been called into question. David Lee, editor of The Jackdaw, commented: "Everyone in the art world knows Hirst hasn't sold the skull. It is clearly just an elaborate ruse to drum up publicity and rewrite the book value of all his other work." If the sale did take place, For the Love of God would become the second most expensive sculpture ever sold and would have fetched the highest price for a sculpture by a living artist.
2010 was a good year for record-breaking sculpture prices but it did not continue into 2011. Jeff Koons' porcelain Pink Panther was estimated to fetch a value of up to $30 million, but only achieved just over half that.
Auction details
All the most expensive sculptures have been sold by one of two auction houses: Sotheby's and Christie's. Sotheby's has hosted the auctions of the two works that reached the highest price, one in London and the other in New York. Only three of the top ten have auctioned outside of New York; one in London and two in Paris. Four of the top five sales occurred in 2010, with the most recent being in November 2010. The most modern sculpture out of the top ten (L'Homme qui marche I) is also the most valuable, while the oldest (the Guennol Lioness) is the second most expensive.
The top ten highest value sculptures were made by seven different people, two of whom are unknown and will never be identified. An Alberto Giacometti sculpture is the most valuable modern work, and he has three more entries in the top ten. Two Constantin Brâncuși sculptures are featured on the list. Although Pablo Picasso only appears once, he appears numerous times in the list of most expensive paintings.
Several buyers have chosen to remain anonymous, while others publicly celebrate their purchases.
List of highest prices paid
The highest prices paid for sculptures as of November 2014: