Which Van Gogh painting set a record price of $82.5 million in 1990?

Which Van Gogh painting set a record price of $82.5 million in 1990? Portrait of Dr. Gachet.

Vincent van Gogh’s Portrait of Dr. Gachet sold for $82.5 million at Christie’s in New York on May 15, 1990. The buyer was Japanese businessman Ryoei Saito, and the sale made the painting the world’s most expensive at that time. The reported total included the buyer’s commission.

Van Gogh painted two authenticated versions of the portrait in June 1890, near the end of his life in Auvers-sur-Oise. Both depict Paul Gachet, the physician who treated Van Gogh during his final weeks, seated at a table and leaning his head on one hand. One version is displayed at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris; the other later disappeared from public view.

The record is often confused with Van Gogh’s most famous image, The Starry Night, or with his Sunflowers and Irises series. None of those paintings made the $82.5 million 1990 sale. The record also does not mean the work remains the most expensive painting today; later auctions produced far higher prices.