what is the most expensive painting in the world

The most expensive painting ever sold is Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci, which fetched $450.3 million at a Christie's auction in 2017. While many sources discuss this record as of recent years, the painting has held the top position in the auction market for paintings, with ongoing commentary about its authenticity and provenance contributing to its notoriety. Current consensus in major art reporting places Salvator Mundi at the pinnacle of auction-record prices, followed by other works such as Willem de Kooning's Interchange and Paul Cézanne's The Card Players, each valued in the hundreds of millions.