Explore and monitor how. A Leonardo da Vinci painting has sold for a record-breaking $450 million this week, at Christie's auction house in New York. The figure more than doubles the existing record for an artwork sold at auction: a $179.4 million bid for a Picasso in 2015. A long-lost Leonardo da Vinci painting, which depicts Jesus Christ, sold at auction for more than $450 million on Nov. 15, 2017. (Image credit: Leonardo da Vinci) The 30 Most Expensive Paintings Ever Sold Salvator Mundi (1500) by Leonardo da Vinci. At an auction held at Christie's New York in 2016 during a contemporary art Interchange (1955) by Willem de Kooning. Willem de Kooning, the Dutch-American painter, created this famous work of The Card Players Salvator Mundi, the long-lost Leonardo da Vinci painting of Jesus Christ commissioned by King Louis XII of France more than 500 years ago, has sold at Christie's in New York for $450.3m, But for many in the initially jam-packed Rockefeller Plaza salesroom, the auction lasted the 19 minutes it took to sell a single work for $400 million ($450 million with fees), making it the most expensive piece ever purchased at auction, and likely the most expensive artwork ever sold. Most Expensive Paintings Ever Sold 1. Leonardo da Vinci, Salvator Mundi, circa 1490-1500 Sold for: $450.3 million at Christie's (November 15, 2017) Painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, " Salvator Mundi ," circa 1490-1500. ohyNpD.