$140,000,000

Yes, $140,000,000 is the highest amount paid for a painting. So who is the 20th century artist rolling in the dough? Well the painting is by abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock, but Jackson was dead for many years before his paintings became this profitable. I heard that as a struggling artist he traded his paintings for groceries so that he wouldn't starve.
Where did I get this astounding figure? From an interesting web site: http://hubpages.com/hub/top-10-worlds-most-expensive-paintings Try it! Surprisingly two of the top 10 paintings are by the same artist.