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Picasso's "Les femmes d'Alger (Version 'O')" went under the hammer Monday, May 11, at Christie's in New York. The Picasso sold for a record $179,365,000. JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images
"Three Studies of Lucian Freud," a 1969 painting by Francis Bacon, sold for $142.4 million in November 2013, breaking the record for the most expensive piece of art ever auctioned. VINCENZO PINTO/AFP/Getty Images
Andy Warhol's "Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster)," a silk-screen from 1963, sold for more than $105 million in November 2013. It was a record price for a Warhol work. Andrew Burton/Getty Images
In a private sale in 2011, Qatar's royal family paid more than $250 million for "The Card Players," a post-impressionist painting by French artist Paul Cezanne.
"Portrait du Dr. Gachet" by Vincent van Gogh sold for $82.5 million in 1990.
Edvard Munch's "The Scream" sold for $120 million at Sotheby's in New York in May 2013, setting a world record at the time. CARL COURT/AFP/Getty Images
Billionaire Steven A. Cohen privately purchased "Woman III" by Willem de Kooning for an estimated $137.5 million, The New York Times reported in 2006. AFP/Getty Images
Cosmetics heir Ronald Lauder paid $135 million in 2006 for "Adele Bloch-Bauer I," a portrait by Gustav Klimt.
Pablo Picasso's "Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust" sold for $106.5 million in 2010. Bloomberg via Getty Images
In 2004, Picasso's "Garcon a la Pipe" sold for more than $104 million. AFP/Getty Images
Sotheby's sold Picasso's "Dora Maar au chat" in 2006 for $95.2 million. AFP/Getty Images
Klimt's "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II" sold for $87.9 million in 2006. Getty Images
Mark Rothko's 1961 piece "Orange, Red, Yellow" was sold in 2012 for $87 million. AFP/Getty Images
In 2008, Sotheby's auctioned Bacon's "Triptych" for $86.3 million. AFP/Getty Images
Warhol's "200 One Dollar Bills," which was bought by a private client in 1986 for $383,000, sold in 2009 for more than 100 times that -- $43.8 million. Mario Tama/Getty Images
