10 Most Expensive Sculptures Sold at Auction
The ranking of the most expensive sculptures sold at auction changed in May 2026, when Constantin Brâncuși’s Danaïde fetched $107.6 million at Christie’s in New York. The sale placed the bronze head second, behind Alberto Giacometti’s L’homme au doigt, and made Brâncuși only the second artist whose sculpture has crossed $100 million at public auction.
This countdown runs from the lowest price to the highest, based on publicly documented auction results checked through September 22, 2026. Figures are published sale totals, including buyer’s premiums, and are not adjusted for inflation. The London result uses its reported U.S. dollar equivalent at the time of sale. Private transactions are excluded, and each price applies to the particular sculpture or cast sold.
10. Constantin Brâncuși, La muse endormie
Photo/Christie's
Price: $57,367,500
Auction: Christie’s, New York, May 15, 2017.
A sleeping head becomes an elongated oval in La muse endormie, with lightly defined features interrupting its curved surface. This example, cast by 1913, combines patinated bronze and gold leaf. Brâncuși developed the subject in marble in 1909–1910 before producing bronze versions, which he finished individually. The 2017 sale established his auction record at the time.
9. Jeff Koons, Balloon Dog (Orange)
Photo/Christie's
Price: $58,405,000
Auction: Christie’s, New York, November 12, 2013.
Koons enlarged the familiar shape of a twisted balloon animal in mirror-polished stainless steel with a transparent orange coating. Executed between 1994 and 2000, Balloon Dog (Orange) sold from the Brant Collection. Its result established a new auction record for a work by a living artist, a distinction later surpassed by other sales, including Koons’s own Rabbit.
8. Amedeo Modigliani, Tête
Photo/Christie's
Price: $70,725,000
Auction: Sotheby’s, New York, November 4, 2014.
Carved in 1911–1912 from a single block of limestone, Tête stretches a face into a long, narrow form with almond-shaped eyes. The 28¾-inch head appeared at the 1912 Salon d’Automne in Paris and entered painter Augustus John’s collection that year. Its 2014 auction result set a record for Modigliani at the time.
7. Constantin Brâncuși, La jeune fille sophistiquée (Portrait de Nancy Cunard)
Photo/Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI/Adam Rzepka/Dist
Price: $71,000,000
Auction: Christie’s, New York, May 15, 2018.
This stylized portrait of writer Nancy Cunard was conceived in 1928 and cast in 1932. Christie’s catalogue identifies it as a unique polished bronze with a marble base carved by Brâncuși. Elizabeth and Frederick Stafford acquired the sculpture directly from the artist in 1955. Its first appearance at auction set a new record for Brâncuși, surpassing La muse endormie.
6. Alberto Giacometti, Le Nez
Photo/Fondation Giacometti
Price: $78,396,000
Auction: Sotheby’s, New York, November 15, 2021.
A suspended head occupies an open metal cage in Le Nez, its long nose projecting beyond the surrounding framework. Giacometti first conceived the subject in 1947; this version dates to 1949 and was cast in 1965. Made from bronze, steel and iron, the sculpture sold in the Macklowe Collection auction.
5. Jeff Koons, Rabbit
Photo/Douglas M. Parker Studio, Los Angeles
Price: $91,075,000
Auction: Christie’s, New York, May 15, 2019.
Made in 1986, Rabbit reproduces the appearance of an inflatable toy in stainless steel. The reflective sculpture stands 41 inches high. The example sold from the S.I. Newhouse collection was number two in an edition of three, plus one artist’s proof. Its sale established a new auction record for a work by a living artist.
4. Alberto Giacometti, Chariot
Photo/MoMA
Price: $100,965,000
Auction: Sotheby’s, New York, November 4, 2014.
A slender female figure stands between two large wheels in Chariot, a painted bronze sculpture on a wooden base. Conceived in 1950 and cast in 1951–1952, the work places the figure above the ground on a narrow platform. The example sold was numbered two of six and had been acquired by its previous owner in 1973.
3. Alberto Giacometti, L’Homme qui marche I
Photo/Guggeneim Bilbao
Price: £65,001,250, reported as $104,327,006 at the time
Auction: Sotheby’s, London, February 3, 2010.
The sale of L’Homme qui marche I, or Walking Man I, briefly established the highest auction price for any artwork. The bronze figure advances with its arms hanging beside a narrow torso. Previously part of Dresdner Bank’s collection, it passed to Commerzbank following the bank’s 2009 takeover.
2. Constantin Brâncuși, Danaïde
Photo/Tate, London/Art Resource
Price: $107,585,000
Auction: Christie’s, New York, May 18, 2026.
The newest sale in this ranking came from Masterpieces: The Private Collection of S.I. Newhouse. Conceived and cast around 1913, Danaïde combines gold leaf and black patina on bronze. Its simplified features were inspired by Hungarian artist Margit Pogany. The sculpture appeared in Brâncuși’s first solo exhibition, held at Alfred Stieglitz’s New York gallery in 1914.
1. Alberto Giacometti, L’homme au doigt
Photo/Christie's
Price: $141,285,000
Auction: Christie’s, New York, May 11, 2015.
Also known as Pointing Man, L’homme au doigt leads the ranking following its sale in Christie’s Looking Forward to the Past auction. Giacometti conceived the figure in 1947, extending one arm outward in a pointing gesture. The bronze offered at auction stands 69⅞ inches tall, is numbered six of six, and was painted by the artist himself.