What is currently considered the most priceless piece of art?

Answer 1

In short, some would answer this question by referring to the current art sold at the highest prices.

But for some, value in art, not unlike beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. When personal taste is coupled with perceived value, things in art valuation can get a bit tricky. Christie's, the world renown auction house in New York, for example, often offers exclusive, valuable and hard or impossible to find art for sale. In 2017, a Leonardo da Vinci painting sold for $450 million, which more than doubled the prior record of still staggering $179.4 million bid for a Picasso two years earlier. Interchange by Willem de Kooning, sold for $300 million, The Card Players by Paul Cézanne sold for $250 million, and Nafea Fan Ipoipo (When Will You Marry?) by Paul Gauguin, sold for $210 million. Paintings are frequently in the forefront of expensive art, but other forms are, as well. In 2018, Hockney was the living artist with the most expensive art at auction, until Koons reclaimed this fame with the sale of Rabbit (1986) for $91.1 million, again, at Christie's. So art trends are also fickle, changing to the whim of those with the cash.

A definition then, of priceless, would steer this discussion in a slightly different vein. The term priceless implies value, and value is subjective to a myriad of factors. If we consider "priceless" for this discussion to mean original, or one-of-a-kind, we might tame the discussion to include works of the Master's--the Mona Lisa, for example, would likely pop up in conversation immediately. Factors that drive an art piece skyrocketing to fame and ozone-pricing seem to have three things in common, according to Evan Beard, at artsy.net. When billionaires were asked if they could buy anything they wanted, historical significance, celebrity, and contemporary appeal were what drove their want to purchase. And they were willing to pay big--billions, in fact.

Having stood in front of thousands of pieces of art, in 27+ countries, I would offer this: Priceless, like beauty, is an opinion that is both personal and subjective. My priceless Mona Lisa might be your The Scream. My The Pietà might be your Venus de Milo. Jed Lipinsky wrote an article in 2013 for the magazine Mental Floss, highlighting a working class couple who amassed a "priceless" art collection. They lived in a 450-square foot apartment, didn't travel, ate TV dinners and had one indulgence: art. They had no formal training, they didn't want to own a museum, but they collected passionately for years--decades. The article states they just wanted to buy what they loved. A National Gallery curator, where 1,000+ of the couple's works are now housed, calls their collection "literally priceless."