«I LIKE MONEY ON THE WALL»

£68 million

Picasso, Nude, Green Leaves and Bust

Christie’s, New York, May 4 2010

One of a series of highly prized, intimate portraits Picasso painted in 1932 of his lover, Marie-Thérèse Walter, this painting was always going to fly. Four years ago, another example from the series, Le Rêve, was about to be sold for $139m (£88m) when its owner, Steve Wynn, stuck his elbow through it by mistake. With a recession-friendly $70m to $90m (£44-£57m) estimate, this one sold to an anonymous buyer for $106.5m (£68m) – a record for any work of art at auction, proving that, even in hard times, the very rich will put their money into great art.

-The Telegraph