2. Paul Cézanne – The Card Players
Before the recent Gauguin sale smashed all previous records, the sale of The Card Players by Cézanne was believed to be the most money paid for a painting. Painted during Cézanne’s final period in the early 1890s, the artist created five paintings in the series. The versions vary in size and in the number of players depicted. Cézanne also completed numerous drawings and studies in preparation for The Card Players series. The work was purchased by the Qatari Royal family – it fetched a reported £158 million in 2011.