One of the most recognized figures in post-Impressionist art in France, Paul Gaughin's paintings have become the subject of study over the past century, as the prices of his work go higher and higher - now setting the largest record in art sales history, reaching almost 200 pounds sterling in a recent auction.
The work broke a World Guinness Record while pricing one of Paul Gaughin's paintings from his career, which ranged from the late 19th century to the first decade of the 1900s, as he became one of the most influential artists of his time, as well as being famous for a number of things outside his work, like his rocky relationship to Vincent Van Gogh.
As The Mirror reports, Paul Gaughin's paintings didn't sell well when he was alive - but, as it often happens to artists, success for him came after death, as his work now reaches the stratospherically, insanely high amounts of money.
2paragraphs reports that this specimen of Paul Gaughin's paintings is called "Nafea faa ipoipo" (When will you marry?) and it's an 1892 work that depicts two Tahitian women from the 19th century, after the controversial artist spent a time in the tropical French Polynesia island.
According to World Record Academy, the previous record for most expensive painting came from "Two Card Players," a work by Paul Cézanne that sold for £160 million (roughly, $243 million) back in 2011.
The former owner of the painting, a Basel, Switzerland collector named Rudolf Staechelin, confirmed the sale, which supposedly went to a Qatar museum that has reportedly spent around $1 billion in art.
There are several other related World Guinness Records when it comes to artists, like the most expensive Old Master painting sold at action, "The Massacre of the Innocents" by Rubens, while Victorian painting "The Misses Stewart Hogson" holds the record for the most expensive painting sold on the Internet, through Sotheby's website.
When he was alive, who would have thought that Paul Gaughin's paintings would reach such incredible amounts, inconceivable at the time?
