The painting was painted in 1886 in Holland. To make up for technical deficiencies from a lack of proper artistic education, Van Gogh had to paint skeletons and skulls again and again. Art critics explain the presence of a cigarette as an attempt by the artist to express his disagreement with the immutable rules of the Academy of Arts, where he studied for less than a year. The fact is that the academy was categorically against any unnecessary details at the “training facilities”. So a cigarette on the skull would certainly offend Van Gogh’s former teachers.

Pablo Picasso, "Woman with a Cigarette"

The painting was created in 1901. The melancholy mood of the work of that period is associated with the artist’s difficult mental state: his close friend Carlos Casagemas recently died. According to art critics, the cigarette in the lady’s hand symbolizes life, which either smolders or flares up from a gust of wind. And then it goes out completely.

Edouard Manet, "Gypsy with a Cigarette"

This work by the founder of impressionism created something of a sensation in 1862. The fact is that in the gypsy Manet’s contemporaries easily recognized the image of a prim, dry and virtuous matron. Thus, the cigarette in her lips becomes a symbol of freedom: with every craving it burns and is fraught with pleasure and danger at the same time.

Pyotr Zabolotsky, “Girl with a Cigarette”

Pyotr Zabolotsky was best at producing truthful portraits. In 1830, when the artist was in the prime of his creative powers, just one of these portraits was created - “Girl with a Cigarette”. A cigarette in one hand and a lit match in the other emphasize the model’s sense of purity and naivety, and also give the picture a frivolous mood.

Salvador Dali, "Self-Portrait"

This is Salvador Dali's first self-portrait, painted back in 1921, at the age of 17: a gloomy young man with a pipe in his mouth looks disdainfully over his shoulder. There is a feeling that he is about to exhale smoke into the viewer’s face, thereby making it clear how much higher he is than the faceless crowd.

Pyotr Konchalovsky, “Portrait of V. E. Meyerhold”

Work on the painting began in 1938, when Meyerhold had already fallen out of favor with power. Despite the apparent cheerfulness of the painting - the colorful colors and intricate patterns of the carpet - it creates an anxious mood in the viewer. According to some art critics, the painting was supposed to convey the intensity of the intellectual’s thought process. What is the thought process without a cigarette?

Max Beckmann, "Self-portrait in the uniform of an orderly"

One of the best German portrait painters of the 20th century painted his first self-portrait at the age of 13. And in this self-portrait, created in 1915, Beckmann is already 31 years old. “Self-portrait in the uniform of an orderly” appeared shortly after the artist’s demobilization from the front. Beckman's psyche was broken by the war. Of course, during that period he did not part with a cigarette.

Edvard Munch, "Self-Portrait with a Lighted Cigarette"

One of the most depressive painters in history drew inspiration for his dark paintings from his own biography. Life threw him one challenge after another: the sadistic religiosity of his father, the death of one sister, the illness of another with schizophrenia, his own mental disorder, his fiancée who constantly threatened him with suicide... In general, Munch had enough troubles. No wonder he smoked. Even in his own self-portrait from 1895.

Text: Andrey Belokon

Top left: Picasso. 05.

A new era in world art was marked by the work of Pablo Picasso. The Frenchman of Spanish origin surpasses his predecessors in the expressiveness of the image, achieved by extreme tension of lines and unprecedented boldness in conveying forms at that time.

Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga, studied painting in Barcelona and then in Madrid at the Academy of San Fernando. Pablo's talent manifested itself in childhood. Already at the age of 15 he painted with the skill and confidence of a mature master. The young artist arrived in Paris in 1901 - from the point of view of academic art, he was already an established master: he painted quite professionally and was fluent in drawing. New French art captivates Picasso, he greedily absorbs diverse influences; his attention is attracted by Daumier and Degas, Van Gogh and Toulouse-Lautrec. Picasso's work, bright, sharply grotesque and original, during this period is not without a touch of imitation. However, starting from 1901, Picasso developed his own style, which characterizes the so-called “blue period” in his art. The artist paints exclusively in cold, blue-blue tones. The characters in his paintings are poor, sick or thrown out of life. The cold color gives the works either a sad or tragic sound.

The theme of the disadvantaged moves into the next, so-called “rose period” of Picasso’s work. His sadness now has a lighter, lyrical hue. The coloring of the paintings is based on a combination of delicate pink and blue tones. The artist is attracted to scenes from the life of traveling circus performers. Their life passes before the viewer - hard, poor, although not without a peculiar romantic charm. The theme of spiritual intimacy, tender love or camaraderie plays a special role in these paintings.

The skill of his drawing can be judged by the excellent small gouache “Boy with a Dog”, located in the Hermitage collection, which perfectly characterizes the art of Picasso’s “rose period”.

A quiet and faithful friendship connects a frail boy and a dog - a simple mongrel with a smart face, trustingly clinging to the leg of his little owner, while he strokes her head. Picasso emphasizes the boy’s thinness, somewhat violating the proportions of his body, but this deformation (which, by the way, does not interfere with noticing the magnificent drawing) only emphasizes the impression made and therefore serves to enhance the truthfulness. The picture is touching without sentimentality, it is deeply human. By depicting a thin, pale, big-headed child, hungry and dressed in rags, the artist does not humiliate his dignity, but gives his image a subtle poetry. In "Boy with a Dog" Picasso's high humanism is manifested, which constitutes the main feature of all his art.

To the painting “Boy with a Pipe” by Pablo Picasso

“Boy with a Pipe” (French Gar;on; la Pipe) is a painting painted in a hostel in 1905 in Bateau Lavoir in Montmartre by 24-year-old artist Pablo Picasso. For Picasso, this period is early, pre-Cubist and, by the way, the most valuable. The canvas belongs to a rare category of iconic paintings for any master: it marked the artist’s transition from the “blue” to the “pink” period.
The most expensive painting in the world?! Yes, except that it entered the top 10 most expensive paintings in the world - it took third place. In 2004, at a Sotheby’s auction, an unknown buyer purchased Pablo Picasso’s “Boy with a Pipe” (Garson a la Pipe) (100; 81.3 cm) from 1905 for $104.168 million, although the initial auction price was $70.00 million. The management of the Whitney Family Foundation put “Boy with a Pipe” up for auction along with 34 other canvases from her collection. Picasso's paintings from different periods lead the art market today, breaking all imaginable price records.
Interestingly, Picasso is considered one of the most “productive” artists: several thousand of his works are involved in the market circulation. But mass appeal is ensured mainly by his later works, which cost several times less. Sometimes one gets the feeling that the author of the paintings of the “blue” or “pink” periods at the turn of the century, the cubist Picasso and the aging master of twentieth-century art, which he became after the Second World War, are three different people, three different artists.
It has been suggested that the buyer of the “Boy with a Pipe” was a Russian. If so, then one can only guess about the name, but the interest of buyers from our country in Picasso’s works is obvious - for example, on May 3, 2006, a certain Russian purchased Picasso’s “Dora Maar with a Cat” at a New York auction at Sotheby’s for $95 million, and If we were ranking the most expensive works, this result would confidently take second place.
What is known about “The Boy with a Pipe”? The work is considered to some extent a turning point for Picasso. After a cheerful series of acrobats, dancers and harlequins, he unexpectedly painted a pure and simple, somewhat sad portrait of a Parisian youth. According to some sources, the young man depicted was called “Little Louis”; He was either an actor or unemployed; he often watched the master at work, and they had a friendly relationship.
The circumstances surrounding the creation of the painting are also known. It remained unfinished for about a month, but one evening Picasso returned to the studio in Montmartre, took out the painting, complemented it with a pink background (pink wallpaper with bouquets) and crowned the boy’s head with a wreath of roses. An unexpected burst of inspiration from the artist gave the world another masterpiece. Because before adding a pink tone, the picture looked sparse, a simple, unattractive face of a boy, which could be seen in many of the artist’s paintings - slightly stooped, with narrow shoulders and large ears.

Paintings have long been an object of desire for the powers that be. Having an imperishable masterpiece in the palace was considered prestigious even among monarchs. For entrepreneurs, such a privilege was considered a pass to high society.

Our industrialists - Shchukin, Morozov, Tretyakov - had a special taste and instinct for talent. And today Russian businessmen are trying to revive traditions. They have long been regulars at Christie's and Sotheby's auctions. Thanks to their efforts, many masterpieces of Russian artists returned to their homeland.

However, we must admit that they are still far from their Western counterparts. They feel at home in the art market and it is difficult to compete with them. They already know what and when to buy, because being the owner of great paintings is not only prestigious, but also profitable - they can always be resold at a profit.

Prices for paintings are constantly rising. But it is impossible to predict the possible success of a particular film. Most often, a record price does not speak of the artist’s skill, but only of a successful market situation. The proof of this is the rating of the most expensive paintings in the world.

Today it is headed by Pablo Picasso's canvas "Boy with a Pipe". In 2004, it was sold at Sotheby's for $104,168,000. Picasso painted "The Boy" in 1905. The painting was seen by Paul Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, a German industrialist and son of the composer. In 1910 he bought the painting. And in 1950, the portrait passed into the hands of the then US Ambassador to England John Whitney for 30 thousand dollars. Since then the price has increased many times.

There are three more paintings by Picasso in the list of the ten most expensive paintings in the world: “Woman with Crossed Arms” (7th place, $55 million), “Woman Seated in a Garden” (9th place, $49.5 million) and "Pierrette's Wedding" (10th place, 49.2 million).

Before the triumph of “Boy with a Pipe,” Vincent Van Gogh’s “Portrait of Doctor Gachet” was considered the most expensive painting in the world for a long time. The artist painted it shortly before his death. As you know, during his lifetime the artist did not manage to sell a single one of his creations, and most of Van Gogh’s works were inherited by his brother. In 1896, the painting was sold, and for some time it wandered through various collections. In 1990, it was auctioned at Christie's for $82.5 million. It was bought by a Japanese businessman, but soon his business went badly and the painting disappeared.

"Portrait of Doctor Gachet" is not the only work by Van Gogh in the ranking. In fifth place is “Portrait of the Artist without a Beard,” worth $71.5 million. And in eighth position is his “Irises” ($53.9 million). The works of Vincent Van Gogh are behind the scenes leaders in the art market in terms of cost and investment attractiveness. Almost any participant in the art market - both collector and investor - would give a lot to acquire a painting by the great painter. And this is not surprising, because Van Gogh is one of the few artists whose paintings quickly increase in price. It is believed that Van Gogh's painting is one of the most profitable investment objects.

The third most expensive painting in the world is “The Ball at the Moulin de la Galette” by Pierre Auguste Renoir. The Sultan of Brunei paid $78.1 million for it.

Just a few hundred thousand behind Renoir is Rubens's "Massacre of the Innocents" (76.7 million). The old masters generally lag behind the geniuses of the last century. The high price of Rubens' masterpiece is explained by the fact that it was recently discovered.

The last one in the top ten most expensive paintings in the world is “Still Life with Drapery and Jug” by Paul Cezanne. This painting is part of a series of six still lifes, each of which depicts the same objects. One of these still lifes is in our Hermitage.

The rate of growth in prices for world-class paintings often exceeds the rate of growth in prices for real estate and other highly profitable investment objects. It is no coincidence that masterpieces by recognized masters put up for auction remain the subject of close attention and price competition among collectors and investors.

In addition to those who are among the ten most expensive, several other artists are considered the most attractive, including the master of pop art Andy Warhol. The starting price for his painting "Orange Marilyn" at Sotheby's auction was $6 million. However, it was sold to an unknown buyer for 17 million.

Prices for Warhol paintings have recently shown an increase of 12-17 percent per year. However, in some years there was a 20 percent decline in prices for the master’s work. This confirms the opinions of some experts who recognize investments in the works of the King of Pop Art as risky in the short term.

The name of Max Beckmann is much less known to the general public, but, according to critics, the works of this prominent representative of German classical modernism of the twentieth century are today a rather attractive investment object. One of the master’s most famous works was “Self-Portrait with a Horn,” created in 1938, a year after emigrating to the United States. It was sold at Sotheby's for $22.5 million, which is a record for works by German artists. Analysts expect a stable increase in prices for paintings by the master at a level of at least 10 percent per year.

The painting "Environs of Krum" by Austrian expressionist Egon Schiele was sold at auction in London for $21 million. Prices for work

E. Schiele either rise sharply or fall sharply. They jumped 453 percent in 2000, fell 250 percent in 2002, and rose 2,100 percent a year later.

One of the most famous Italian sculptors and painters, Amedeo Modigliani, barely made ends meet during his lifetime. Today, investments in Modigliani's works are characterized by high profitability and stability. Their prices are constantly rising. The annual increase in market value can reach 20-50 percent.

Prices for works by Claude Monet are even higher than for works by Cezanne. In addition, Monet's work is more popular among collectors, and investments in the canvases of this master are more profitable than in the works of most other impressionists.

The most expensive painting ever sold in our country has been added to the State Museum Fund. This is the fourth ("Samara") version of Kazimir Malevich's "Black Square". According to some reports, they paid a million dollars for it.

Well, in general, the most expensive Russian painting was “Still Life with Flowers” ​​by Ilya Mashkov, which was sold at Sotheby’s London auction for $3.6 million.

It is assumed that the painting was painted in 1912. The auctioneers thought that the painting would be sold for 350-500 thousand dollars, but the bidding was long and persistent, as a result the cost of the painting soared sevenfold. Previous records for “Russian” auctions were set in 2004 by “St. Isaac’s Cathedral on a Frosty Day” by Ivan Aivazovsky ($2.125 million) and “The Judgment of Paris” by Konstantin Makovsky ($2 million).