And generally, who can be deemed a Russian artist? Many famous artists born in the Russian Empire lived and worked in different countries of the world (and even acquired different foreign nationalities in different time periods). The following Top-50 most expensive paintings of Russian artists (data as of September 2012) includes only those artists which were born in Russia and left Russia, if they did so, already being painters.
For this reason the list does not include such artists as Mark Rothko whose three painting with the total cost of $212.18 million are included in Top-50 world's most expensive paintings, Chaim Soutine, Tamara de Lempicka.
Despite widely spread opinion about high cost of Russian art articles at world auctions, Russian paintings are considerably cheaper than world's masterpieces. Thus, the most expensive painting heading this Top-50 is "Suprematist Composition" by Kazimir Malevich which costs $ 60 million - the only one included in Top-50 world's most expensive paintings and being among the last ten. While the total cost of Top-50 world's most expensive paintings amounts to $ 4,300.36 million (!!!), Top-50 most expensive paintings of Russian artists is estimated only at "modest" $ 387.77 million.
And still who is the most expensive Russian artist, according to the Top-50? The total cost of seven works by Wassily Kandinsky amounts to $ 82.16 million, of two works by Kazimir Malevich - to $ 77.05 million, of seven works by Marc Chagall - to $ 55.15 million In addition, potential capital intensity of Kandinsky's works is much higher, since the most part of these amounts is money for paintings sold in 1989-1999. Current prices for the works are much higher!
The most remarkable painting from the point of view of rapid growth of its price is "The Little Cowboy" by Nikolai Fechin. During 2010, between two auction sales, its price grew from $ 600 th. to $ 10.8 million! After that occasion there were talks that actually the transaction has never been concluded, and the whole story was just a publicity stunt in order to raise prices for the artist's paintings artificially.
Below you can find photos of 50 the most expensive paintings by Russian artists with indication of their respective auction value in US dollars at the exchange rate as of the moment of sale.
Kazimir Malevich
Suprematist Composition. 1916
$ 60,0 million (year of sale 2008)
Alexei Jawlensky
Schokko With Wide Brimmed Hat. 1910
$ 18,66 million (year of sale 2008)
Marc Chagall
The Big Circus. 1956
$ 13,7 million (year of sale 2007)
Natalia Goncharova
Picking Apples. 1909
$ 9,78 million (year of sale 2007)
Ilya Repin
A Parisian Cafe. 1875
$ 7,24 million (year of sale 2011)
Natalia Goncharova
Spanish Woman. 1916
$ 6,43 million (year of sale 2010)
Ilya Kabakov
Beetle. 1982
$ 5,84 million (year of sale 2008)
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Ivan Aivazovsky
American Shipping off the Rock of Gibraltar. 1873
$ 5,51 million (year of sale 2007)
Wassily Kandinsky
White Sound. 1908
$ 23,3 million (year of sale 2007)
Kazimir Malevich
Suprematist Composition. 1916
$ 17,05 million (year of sale 2000)
Natalia Goncharova
Flowers. 1912
$ 10,88 million (year of sale 2008)
Marc Chagall
Russian Village Under the Moon. 1911
$ 8,25 million (year of sale 1999)
Natalia Goncharova
Moscow Street. 1909
$ 6,35 million (year of sale 2011)
Natalia Goncharova
Campanulas. 1909
$ 5,97 million (year of sale 2008)
Alexander Yakovlev
Portrait of Vasily Shukhaev in His Workshop. 1928
$ 5,61 million (year of sale 2007)
Wassily Kandinsky
Fugue. 1900
$ 22,9 million (year of sale 1990)
Wassily Kandinsky
Sketch to Improvisation No.3. 1909
$ 16,88 million (year of sale 2008)
Marc Chagall
Jubilee. 1923
$ 16,3 million (year of sale 1990)
Nikolai Fechin
The Little Cowboy. 1940
$ 10,8 million (year of sale 2010)
Konstantin Somov
The Rainbow, 1927
$ 7,43 million (year of sale 2007)
Vasiliy Polenov
Who without a sin? 1908
$ 6,52 million (year of sale 2011)
Boris Kustodiev
The Village Fair. 1920
$ 4,43 million (year of sale 2009)
Marc Chagall
Yellow Chair. 1911
$ 5,50 million (year of sale 1999)
Alexei Jawlensky
Brown Eyes. 1912
$ 5,50 million (year of sale 2006)
Wassily Kandinsky
Angel of the Last Judgment. 1911
$ 5,20 million (year of sale 1995)
Wassily Kandinsky
Bavarian Mountains with Village. 1908
$ 4,95 million (year of sale 2001)
Mikhail Nesterov
The Vision of the Youth Bartholomew. 1922
$ 4,30 million (year of sale 2007)
Ilya Kabakov
La Chambre de Luxe. 1981
$ 4,00 million (year of sale 2007)
Aristarkh Lentulov
South Russian Town. 1915
$ 3,67 million (year of sale 2007)
Nikolay Roerich
And appeared… 1922
$ 3,62 million (year of sale 2007)
Konstantin Makovsky
Happy Arcadia. 1890
3,40 million (year of sale 2007)
Ivan Aivazovsky
. The Varangians on the Dnieper. 1876
$ 3,30 million (year of sale 2006)
Ivan Shishkin
Glade in the Forest. 1896
$ 3,18 million (year of sale 2008)
Vladimir Baranoff-Rossine
The Rhythm (Adam and Eve). 1910
$ 5,36 million (year of sale 2008)
Marc Chagall
The Violinist and Inverted World. 1929
$ 4,62 million (year of sale 1989)
Konstantin Makovsky
From the Everyday Life of the Russian Boyar. 1868
$ 4,20 million (year of sale 2007)
Wassily Kandinsky
Autumn Landscape With Boats. 1908
$ 3,96 million (year of sale 1989)
Arkhip Kuindzhi
Birch Grove.
$ 3,65 million (year of sale 2008)
Marc Chagall
Roses and Mimosa. 1956.
$ 3,61 million (year of sale 2008)
Ilya Mashkov
Still Life With Flowers. 1912
$ 3,40 million (year of sale 2005)
Alexey Bogolyubov
View of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior from the Kremlin. 1878
$ 3,23 million (year of sale 2007)
Marc Chagall
Still Life. 1910.
$ 3,17 million (year of sale 2008)
Konstantin Somov
Pastorale Russe. 1922
$ 5,20 million (year of sale 2006)
Wassily Kandinsky
Weilheim-Marienplatz. 1909
$ 4,97 million (year of sale 2007)
Mikhail Larionov
Still Life with Jug and Icon.
1910-1912
$ 4,52 million (year of sale 2007)
Vera Rokhlina
Card Players. 1919
$ 4,06 million (year of sale 2008)
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Boris Grigoriev
The Shepherd in the Mountains (Klyuyev-Shepherd). 1920
$ 3,72 million (year of sale 2008)
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Vasily Vereshchagin
Solomon's Wall. 1884
$ 3,62 million (year of sale 2007)
Vasily Vereshchagin
The Taj Mahal, Evening. 1875
$ 3,56 million (year of sale 2011)
Liubov Popova
Still Life With Tray. 1915
$ 3,36 million (year of sale 2007)
Isaac Levitan
Illumination of the Kremlin. 1896
3,19 million (year of sale 2007)
Ivan Aivazovsky
View of Constantinople. 1852
$ 3,15 million (year of sale 2006)