The most expensive living American artist is Jasper Johns, whose 1958 painting Flag changed hands in a private sale in 2010 for a reported $110 million. At public auction the record belongs to Jeff Koons, whose steel sculpture Rabbit made $91.1 million at Christie’s in May 2019. This list ranks ten living American artists by the highest verified price paid for a single work, as of October 2026.
| Rank | Artist and work | Price (USD) | Sale date | Sold at |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jasper Johns: Flag (1958) | $110 million (reported) | 2010 | Private sale |
| 2 | Jeff Koons: Rabbit (1986) | $91.1 million | May 2019 | Christie’s |
| 3 | Beeple: Everydays, the First 5000 Days (2021) | $69.3 million | Mar 2021 | Christie’s |
| 4 | Ed Ruscha: Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half (1964) | $68.3 million | Nov 2024 | Christie’s |
| 5 | Christopher Wool: Untitled (Riot) (1990) | about $29.9 million | 2015 | Sotheby’s |
| 6 | Kerry James Marshall: Past Times (1997) | $21.1 million | May 2018 | Sale by a Chicago public authority |
| 7 | KAWS: The KAWS Album (2005) | about $14.7 million | Apr 2019 | Sotheby’s Hong Kong |
| 8 | Richard Prince: Runaway Nurse (2005 to 2006) | $12.1 million | June 2021 | Sotheby’s Hong Kong |
| 9 | Mark Bradford: Helter Skelter I (2007) | $12 million | Mar 2018 | Phillips |
| 10 | Julie Mehretu: Walkers with the Dawn and Morning (2008) | $10.7 million | 2023 | Sale by a private collector |
1. Jasper Johns: Flag (1958): $110 million (reported)
Johns, born in 1930, painted his first flag in 1954 and made the American flag one of the most recognised images in postwar art. The 1958 Flag was sold privately in 2010 and the price was widely reported at about $110 million.
At public auction, his best result is Small False Start (1960), which made $55.35 million at Christie’s in November 2022.
How we valued it: reported private sale price, since private deals are not published; the auction result is a hammer plus premium figure.
2. Jeff Koons: Rabbit (1986): $91.1 million
Rabbit is a 41 inch stainless steel sculpture of an inflatable bunny, one of three plus an artist’s proof. It reset the auction record for any living artist when it sold.
Koons, born in 1955, also holds the second best result for Balloon Dog (Orange) at $58.4 million in 2013.
How we valued it: auction price including buyer’s premium.
3. Beeple: Everydays, the First 5000 Days (2021): $69.3 million
Mike Winkelmann, known as Beeple, made one digital image every day for more than thirteen years and stitched the first 5,000 into a single collage. Sold as an NFT, it was the first purely digital work offered by a major auction house.
Beeple later sold a physical sculpture, Human One, for $28.96 million at Christie’s in November 2021.
How we valued it: auction price including buyer’s premium.
4. Ed Ruscha: Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half (1964): $68.3 million
Ruscha, born in 1937, is the painter of Los Angeles gas stations and roadside signs. This picture combines a Standard Oil station with a torn comic-book cover.
The November 2024 sale set a new record for the artist and is the most recent top-five result on this list.
How we valued it: auction price including buyer’s premium.
5. Christopher Wool: Untitled (Riot) (1990): about $29.9 million
Wool’s black letters on white, stencilled into words such as RIOT, are among the best known paintings of the 1990s.
This is reported as his auction record. In November 2013 a different word painting, Apocalypse Now, also sold for a record price.
How we valued it: reported auction price including premium, from one source, so treat as approximate.
6. Kerry James Marshall: Past Times (1997): $21.1 million
Marshall’s large painting shows Black Chicagoans at a leisurely picnic in a park. The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority sold it from the McCormick Place convention center to a private buyer to raise funds.
The price made headlines as one of the highest ever for a living Black artist.
How we valued it: reported sale price including fees, a deal by the seller rather than an open auction.
7. KAWS: The KAWS Album (2005): about $14.7 million
Brian Donnelly, who works as KAWS, painted this canvas on commission for designer Nigo, who later sold it.
It sold for HK$115.9 million.
How we valued it: auction price converted from Hong Kong dollars at the time, approximate.
8. Richard Prince: Runaway Nurse (2005 to 2006): $12.1 million
Prince’s Nurse Paintings are based on the covers of pulp romance novels. This one is part of the series that began in 2003 and fetched HK$93,986,000.
It is the artist’s record result.
How we valued it: auction price converted from Hong Kong dollars, approximate.
9. Mark Bradford: Helter Skelter I (2007): $12 million
A monumental collage painting built from layers of paper, it was a record for the artist and for any living Black artist at auction when it sold.
Bradford represented the United States at the Venice Biennale in 2017.
How we valued it: auction price including premium.
10. Julie Mehretu: Walkers with the Dawn and Morning (2008): $10.7 million
Mehretu, who was born in Ethiopia and works in New York, layers architectural drawings, maps and gestural marks into dense abstractions.
The 2023 sale set a record for the artist and for any artist born in Africa.
How we valued it: reported sale price from the seller’s announcement.
What changed since the old list
The biggest new result is Ed Ruscha’s $68.3 million sale at Christie’s in November 2024. Jasper Johns remains active, with solo shows at David Zwirner and Gagosian in New York in 2026.
We did not verify a new record for a living American artist in 2025 or 2026. Cady Noland, who ranked tenth in the old list, is now outside the top ten: her best auction result is $9.8 million for Bluewald at Christie’s in May 2015.
What drives these prices
- One famous image: Johns’s flags, Koons’s balloon animals and Ruscha’s stations are instantly recognisable, and that lifts every example.
- Market depth: the top five have dealers, museums and collectors bidding together.
- Scarcity: Rabbit exists in three versions plus a proof, and Flag is a single painting.
- Private sales: the highest prices are often not public, so we label them as reported.
- Age and legacy: older artists whose careers are secure tend to command more.
FAQ
Who is the most expensive living American artist?
Jasper Johns, with Flag reportedly sold privately for about $110 million in 2010. At auction, Jeff Koons holds the record at $91.1 million.
Who is the most expensive living artist at auction?
Jeff Koons, whose Rabbit sold for $91.1 million at Christie’s in May 2019. David Hockney’s $90.3 million result in 2018 is the next highest, but he is British.
What is the most expensive Ed Ruscha painting?
Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half, which sold for $68.3 million at Christie’s in November 2024.
Is Beeple’s artwork a painting?
No, the $69.3 million work is a digital collage sold as an NFT.
Are private sales included?
Yes, but labelled. The Johns and Marshall results are reported, not open auction results.
Who joined the list?
Beeple, Ruscha, KAWS and Mehretu are among the artists whose records moved them into the top ten since the original list.
How we put this list together
We rank by the highest verified price paid for a single work, using auction results and disclosed sales compiled in an internal valuation model. Prices are approximate and change over time.
Last updated: October 2026.
