Artists like Pollock, Van Gogh and Rubens are some of those whose works are now worth millions.

Jackson Pollock's No 5 was a work that sold in 2006 for a huge fee. Abstract paintings by Pollock are in big demand by lovers of expressionism so when this creation of drizzled paint on fibreboard was valued so highly non-one was surprised.

Sold at around the same time, and for roughly the same price as No5 by Pollock, was the William de Kooning work Woman III. De Kooking was another abstract expressionist painter and between 1951 and 1953 painted a series of six works about a woman.

Paintings by Klimt are well known to anyone with even a passing interest in art so when his painting of Adele Bloch Bauer was sold in 2006, the price of $135 dollars was not a shock. Klimt's style is described as symbolist and he often painted the female form. This painting took him three years to complete and was created using gold and oil on canvas.

Picasso experimented with several styles of painting during his life and also produced several multi-million dollar pieces. His painting The Boy with a Pipe was sold in 2004 for 104 million dollars This depicts Herod's infanticide from the Gospel of Matthew and was created around 1612. For two hundred years the painting was mistakenly attributed to one of Ruben's helpers until it was identified in 2001, and later sold to a Canadian media baron. It is currently being renovated and has been shown in national galleries in the UK and Canada.

Van Gogh's "Portrait de L'Artiste sans Barbe" was sold for 71.5 million pounds in 1998. The artist had shaved off his beard and this is one of several self portraits Van Gogh created. His other highly valued works include Road with Cypress and Star and The café Terrace and of course his very famous chair and sunflower paintings. In the three years before his death Van Gogh painted several self-portraits, this being the only one showing him without a beard.

In addition to landscapes and still life paintings Van Gogh created several portraits of others and the Portrait du Dr. Gachet became one of the most famous when it sold in 1990 for $82.5 million. Gachet was a French physician who treated Vincent van Gogh during the last few weeks of his life.

Cezanne, a French post-impressionist created Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier (or Drapery, Pitcher, and Fruit Bowl) in 1894. This painting, when Cezanne was suffering from diabetes is regarded among his list of greatest achievements yet commanded a price of 60 million dollars in 1999. Its known to be the most expensive still life painting ever sold, but later was resold for less. His portraits and self-portraits are also well liked.