The Most Expensive Painting Ever Sold at Auction: Picasso's 'Women of Algiers'

A version of this post originally appeared on The Creators Project Mexico.

If you needed any further proof of Pablo Picasso's significance, look no further than his paintings' historic sales:

Women of Algiers in their Apartment (Les Femmes d'Alger, version O) sold for $179,400,000 in an auction held by Christie's in May 2015, setting a new record high for art ever sold at auction. He smashed the previous record-holder, Francis Bacon, with his November 2013, $142.4 million Three Studies of Lucian Freud. In anticipation, Christie's had valued the Picasso at $140 million, the highest-ever list price for a work at auction.

The 1955 painting is based on a similarly-titled work by Eugene Delacroix. Picasso explored the theme in 15 paintings, ranging from "versions" from A to O.

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