Created around 1500, this painting of Christ attributed to Leonardo da Vinci is one of the master's 20 still existing paintings. In 1958 "Salvator Mundi" was sold for just $60 because it was thought to be a copy. But it fetched more than four times Christie's pre-sale estimate on November 15, 2017, when it was sold for over $450 million (€382 million) — setting a world record for auctioned art.

From 1954-55, Pablo Picasso did a series of 15 paintings inspired by Delacroix's "Les Femmes d'Alger," with versions named "A" through "O." He started them after the death of Henry Matisse, as a tribute to his friend and artistic rival. "Version O" broke the world record for an auction sale, selling for $179.4 million (167.1 million euros) at Christie's in May 2015.

At a Christie's auction held in November 2015, seven potential buyers spent nine frantic minutes bidding on this painting. It was finally snapped by a telephone bidder from China. The nude, painted in 1917-18, provoked a scandal at its first exhibition in Paris. The police shut down the art show after a crowd gathered outside the window.

Modigliani's work "Nu couché (sur le côté gauche)" caused such a controversy when it was first shown in Paris in 1917 that the police had to close the exhibition. The Italian artist's oil painting became the most expensive artwork to have been sold at New York auction house Sotheby's in May 2018.

This 1907 painting by Gustav Klimt is considered one of the most elaborate and representative of his "golden phase." In 2006, it was sold through a private sale brokered by Christie's for a record sum for a painting, $135 million. That same year, Jackson Pollock's classic drip painting "No. 5 1948" broke that record, obtaining $140 million through another private sale.

Van Gogh allegedly said of the homeopathic doctor Dr. Gachet, whom he painted here in 1890, that "he was sicker than I am." The plant is a foxglove, which is used to make the drug digitalis. In 1990, the work was auctioned off to Ryoei Saito, Japan's second-largest paper manufacturer, for $82.5 million, making it the world's priciest painting at the time (the price above has been adjusted).

This 1969 triptych documents Francis Bacon's friendship and rivalry with fellow painter Lucian Freud. At the time it was sold, in November 2013, it obtained the highest price for a work of art at an auction, until Picasso - and now Modigliani - surpassed that record in 2015.

This 1876 work by Impressionist master Renoir depicts a dance venue for high society on the outskirts of Paris, the Moulin de la Galette. One of Renoir's most famous works, it exudes the joie de vivre that is characteristic of his style. In 1990, the work was purchased for $78.1 million (adjusted price above) by Japanese buyer Ryoei Saito, along with van Gogh's "Portrait of Dr. Gachet."

This portrait of an adolescent holding a pipe and wearing a garland of flowers in his hair was created during the Spanish master's "Rose Period" in 1905. Just a little under a century later, the painting fetched an impressive sum of $104.2 million at a Sotheby's auction in 2004 (price adjusted above).

This agonizing character painted by Edvard Munch is one of the most iconic paintings in the world. The Expressionist artist had actually made four versions of it: Three are in Norwegian museums, and the fourth one was sold for the screeching price of $119.9 million in May 2012 at Sotheby's, which would be adjusted to $130.7 million today.

Picasso is well represented among the highest earning painters. His 1905 masterpiece "Fillette a la corbeille fleurie" ("Young Girl with a Flower Basket") was sold – along with two other Rose Period paintings – by the artist himself to writer Gertrude Stein in a sale that helped launch his career. The work, which was later part of David and Peggy Rockefeller's collection, sold for $115 million.

The French painter Claude Monet created multiple landscape series that depict the same subject in different types of light and seasons, showing off his ability to capture atmosphere. The painting "Meules" (1890), from his "Haystacks" series, fetched $110.7 million (€98 million) at a Soethby's auction — the record for a Monet and the first impressionist painting to cross the $100-million threshold.

Inspired by his mistress Marie-Thérèse Walther, Picasso created this painting in a single day in 1932. If you add the eight minutes and six seconds it took for the auction record bid at Christie's in May 2010, it still appears to be well-invested time. Its price could be adjusted to $115.7 million today.

Sandro Botticelli's masterpiece was sold at auction at Sotheby's in January 2021 for $92.2 million. The Italian Renaissance master had never fetched so much at auctions before. Prior to the sale, the work had been estimated at about $60 million.

Muhammad al-Ansi was born in Yemen and was held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camps for a total of 15 years under extrajudicial detention practices. He alleges that he was tortured during his incarceration, saying that painting helped him cope with the conditions at Guantanamo. Creating landscapes and flowers helped him escape the reality of everyday life at the notorious prison.

"Vertigo at Guantanamo" is the title of this watercolor by Pakistani inmate Ammar Al-Baluchi. Al-Baluchi has been held at Guantanamo for more than 10 years, and was held at a series of CIA prisons for more than three years before that. His paintings are a direct response to the conditions he has had to suffer in custody, including allegations of torture.

Ahmed Rabbani is another Pakistani inmate at Guantanamo who was held at a number of CIA detention facilities for two years before his transfer to the notorious prison on the island of Cuba. Like most other detainees there, Rabbani is accused of having links to the 9/11 attacks and is alleged of being a member of al Qaeda. His paintings, however, speak of ideas far removed from terrorism.

When the detainees at Guantanamo ran out of regular paint they had to improvise with other materials. Khalid Qasim, who is one of 41 prisoners still held at Guantanamo Bay and is alleged of a series of crimes as a "enemy combatant" including training for jihad, used coffee powder and sand to finish this depiction of the Titanic out at sea.

The sea appears to play a central role in many of the paintings created by Guantanamo detainees. The waves crashing against the bay are can apparently be heard from all prison cells. Abdel Malik Al Rahabi, who was released in 2016 after spending 15 years at Guantanamo, painted this seaside cityscape from memory.

Images of the body of drowned Syrian refugee boy Aylan Kurdi went around the world in 2015 and even made it into the prison cells at Guantanamo, after former US President Barack Obama allowed inmates to have access to television in 2008. Yemeni inmate Muhammad al-Ansi, who was transferred to custody in Oman in early 2017, painted this image after hearing of the tragic event.

The exhibition "Ode to the Sea: Art from Guantanamo" is open to the public at the "President's Gallery" at New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice, a renowned liberal arts school in Manhattan. The art show has attracted a lot of controversy throughout the US. The 36 art works on display can still be seen until January 26, 2018.

Despite the pledge from former US President Barack Obama to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, the notorious prison facility is still operating. When Obama started his presidency there were 242 inmates at Guantanamo. By the end of 2017, only 41 remained. It is unclear if or when they might be released or transferred to other facilities.