The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is one of the biggest and most beautiful places to see art in America. It's also insanely popular; tens of thousands of people visit it each day and over 5 million people go to the Met each year.

So when a former editor of mine emailed me a few weeks ago asking if I wanted to go on a private tour of the Met, how could I say no?

After some research, I learned that this was a small program the Met has been doing. You can actually go on social media and see others also alone in the met using the hashtag #EmptyMet. Sounded great to me.

So, early Wednesday morning, I made my way over to the Upper East Side and took in some of the most cherished and well-known art in the world, virtually alone.

Here are some of the highlights of what it's like to see a usually-packed museum with scant a person in sight.

This is the outside of the Met at 8:20AM. Usually, it is bustling with tourists and locals alike, but at this time, there was hardly anyone there.

The front foyer was completely empty. I've been to the Met more times than I can count and I've never seen it with this few people. You could hear a pin drop. It was actually quite eerie.

Seriously, it was really empty.

A Brooklyn-based artist is suing Starbucks for allegedly stealing her designs.

Maya Hayuk has filed a $750,000 lawsuit against Starbucks for copyright penalties and unspecified cash damages, according to the New York Post. 

The internationally-known artist alleges that the designs on Starbucks' new mini Frappuccino cups closely resemble her geometric artwork.

In the lawsuit, Hayuk claims that Starbucks' ad agency, 72andsunny, reached out to her in October expressing interest in her work.

However, Hayuk says she turned down the opportunity.

Hayuk has worked with a number of companies on ad campaigns in the past. She painted murals for Facebook, Longchamp, and Bonnarroo Music Festival, among others. 

Because of this recognition, Hayuk's artistic style and aesthetic is recognizable. 

“Starbucks brazenly created artwork that is substantially similar to one or more of Hayuk’s copyrighted works,” the lawsuit claims.

Hayuk believes that the mini Frappuccino campaign, "used the same abstract, radiating beams of black, white, yellow, magenta and azure," that she used in five of her paintings, according to the Post.

The five paintings Hayuk alleges are the subject of copyright infringement include Hands Across the Universe, The Universe, The Universe II, Sexy Gazebo, and Kites #1.

We reached out to Starbucks and are waiting to hear back.

"We are aware a complaint has been filed, and we are investigating the allegations," a Starbucks spokeswoman told the New York Post.

This is not the first time Hayuk has sued over her artwork. In 2014 the artist sued Sara Bareilles — as well as Bareilles' labels Sony Music and Epic Records — and luxury brand Coach for copyright infringement.

The artist alleged that the singer and brand used her artwork unlawfully in promotional material, according to Page Six.

SEE ALSO: H&M is launching a new brand 'completely different' from anything the company has done before

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In this art installation Leigh Sachwitz invites you to experience rain drumming on a roof and dark clouds stacking up in the night sky.

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When Andy Warhol was looking for a way to make his name in the New York art world in the early 1960s, he asked friends for suggestions about what to paint.

“Finally," he said, “one lady friend asked the right question: ‘Well, what do you love most?' That's how I started painting money."

The Pop artist's first hand-painted dollar bill canvas, One Dollar Bill (Silver Certificate), from 1962, sold minutes ago at Sotheby's London for $32.8 million, the biggest price fetched so far for a contemporary artwork at a busy week of sales there.

Christie's sold $150.1 million's worth of art on Tuesday, with records set for Chris Ofili, R.H. Quaytman and four other artists; a Phillips sale netted $28.6 million and set a record for an Ai Weiwei work on Monday.

One Dollar Bill edged past its high estimate of $26.5 million (estimates don't include the house's fee, while the sale price does).

Warhol painted it based on a photograph of currency that he commissioned from his friend Edward Wallowitch, according to Sotheby's. His business manager, Frederick Hughes, was the first owner of the painting; from him it went to Zurich's Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, where the seller picked it up in 1997.

The Sotheby's dollar bill, measuring about six feet wide, is the only one he painted by hand before hitting on his silk-screen technique; his silk-screen painting 200 One Dollar Bills commanded $43.7 million at Sotheby's in 2009.

Warhol painted his famous Campbell's Soup cans the same year as the Sotheby's dollar painting, showing them at Los Angeles' Ferus Gallery.

“I like money on the wall," Warhol said in 1975. Warhol talked a lot about cash.

“The best way I like to carry money, actually, is messy," he also said. “Crumpled wads. A paper bag is good."

SEE ALSO: I had a rare chance to tour the Metropolitan Museum of Art without anyone else around, and it was surreal

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"Terminator Genisys" is out in theaters this weekend. 

In conjunction with the film's release publisher Insight Editions released a making-of book, "Teminator Genisys: Resetting the Future," filled with gorgeous concept artwork, storyboards, and interviews with the cast and crew of the film.

Insight Editions shared a few pieces of art from the new release, along with a few exclusive images, with Business Insider.

Check them out below.

"Terminator Genisys" kicks off in the year 2029 as a war between machine and man rages onward.

Los Angeles lay in ruins after the fallout from Judgment Day — the day the AI Skynet became self-aware and saw humanity as a threat.

We get a better look at the apocalyptic desolation first described to us in James Cameron's 1984 introduction to the Terminator franchise.

Show us the Monet!

That’s the message that's been sent to Crown Heights businessman Shaya Gordon and his siblings who are accused of wrongfully holding onto a painting by Impressionist master Claude Monet.

Another Brooklyn family, whose deceased patriarch, David Arakie, was an avid art collector, filed a lawsuit last September against Gordon and his sisters, claiming that the alleged Monet painting “Women in Arles” belongs to them and they want it back.

The signed artwork, which was once exhibited at Southampton’s Parrish Art Museum in the early 1970s, depicts women washing clothes in a stream and is worth $100 million, Arakie’s heirs say.

The lawsuit is the latest salvo in a longstanding feud over the painting — one that has involved allegations of physical threats and has clogged up courts in Brooklyn, Manhattan and upstate New York for more than a decade.

Throughout the bitter standoff, Gordon, 40, has brushed aside the accusations, claiming that the Monet painting is a fake but also refusing to return it to Arakie’s heirs.

Gordon has said his father, a businessman and philanthropist, received the painting and six other pieces of art from Steven Dearakie, a cash-strapped and ailing son of Arakie, in exchange for financial help.

Gordon declined to comment for this story, but in an earlier proceeding he explained in an affidavit his reasoning for why the Monet was his family’s rightful property.

“My father was a very generous man and helped out many people financially,” he wrote.

“This included Steve Dearakie, who needed both physical and financial help. My father had informed me that in repayment of my father’s generosity, Mr. Dearakie gave my father the seven [pieces of art].”

How the alleged Monet made its way into Gordon’s family began in 1971, a year before Arakie’s death.

At the time, Arakie, who collected art and religious items, permitted his son Steven Dearakie to keep the Monet for display in his home.

The agreement came with the condition that when Arakie died, Dearakie and his four siblings would each hold a one-fifth share in the painting, according to the lawsuit filed earlier this year in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

Dearakie spoke eight languages, collected art and was a successful publisher with homes in Manhattan, Florida and upstate Loch Sheldrake.

But by 2003, he had suffered a reversal of fortune.

A drawn-out divorce and bankruptcy proceeding in the 1990s left Dearakie in financial arrears and in jeopardy of losing his upstate home to foreclosure. He was also suffering from advanced Parkinson’s disease and a series of strokes that left him with limited mobility.   

In a last-ditch effort to save his home, Dearakie was introduced to Gordon’s father, Schabse Gordon, through a mutual friend, Martin Cohen.

Schabse, who lived in Crown Heights but ran a food distribution business in Ulster County, had a reputation of helping people in need in the Jewish community and having experience in the antiques market.

He agreed to give Dearakie a $100,000 personal loan on his mortgage and to help him sell seven cherished pieces of art, including the Monet painting, according to Cohen and Dearakie’s relatives.

The deal was also recorded in a handwritten note that itemized the seven pieces and was signed by Schabse, court documents show.

In December 2003, Cohen and Dearakie’s caretaker, Karen Spiegelman, loaded five of the pieces into the trunk of a car and tied two large pieces to the roof, then delivered them to Schabse and his wife Fredda Gordon.

The plan was for the Gordons to find a buyer for the Monet through a gallerist, but a sale never happened.

Cohen told DNAinfo New York that the prospect of a sale dimmed after two appraisers in the city examined the Monet and determined it was a fake.

“They both confirmed it was a very beautiful painting, but it was not a Monet,” Cohen said. “[Monet’s] name was on the painting but it wasn’t by him.”

While hope remained the painting would eventually be authenticated, the possibility of an imminent sale completely collapsed when Schabse died on Sept. 8, 2004, while still possessing the painting. Dearakie died a month later at 73.

Since Dearakie’s death, various parties connected to him have tried to pry the seven pieces of art away from Shaya and his family.

First Dearakie’s caretaker, Karen Spiegelman, filed a lawsuit in 2005 in Sullivan County Supreme Court against Schabse’s family and demanded the painting’s return to her. But she later abandoned the litigation.

Then in 2008, Edward Cohn, Dearakie’s brother and the administrator of his estate, took legal action in Manhattan Surrogate’s Court against Fredda Gordon to find and obtain the Monet painting.

During the proceedings, Fredda said in a deposition that her son Shaya Gordon took the painting from her Crown Heights apartment.

In 2011 Shaya also admitted in an affidavit to having the alleged Monet and to having reached out to Mechel Handler, a nephew of Cohn, to suggest that the two families have a rabbinical court decide the matter.

But the offer went nowhere, and Mechel, who lives at the same Midwood address as Cohn, later claimed in an affidavit that Shaya threatened him with physical violence if the litigation against Fredda didn’t end. Shaya has denied the allegation.

Despite disclosures, the Manhattan Surrogate’s Court case dragged on for years without any resolution.

Then in 2014 Cohn, his sister and the children of two other siblings filed the lawsuit in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

Evan Newman, a lawyer for the Arakie’s heirs, declined to comment on the case. Neither the Arakie side nor the Gordons would provide DNAinfo with a picture of the painting.

While the Gordons claim the painting is fake, Arakie’s heirs say it’s real and cite its inclusion in an exhibition at the Parrish Art Museum as proof.

The Arakie heirs have a copy of a certificate of insurance from Lloyd’s of London that covered the painting while it was on loan to the museum from July 25, 1973, to Sept. 10, 1973. The coverage amount was $400,000.

The painting was part of an exhibit that ran during the summer that celebrated the museum’s then 75th anniversary. The show pooled paintings from various Hamptonites’ private collections and included works from such heavyweights as Rembrandt, Picasso and de Kooning.

Jean Weber, the director of the museum at the time of 1973 show, said she didn’t remember the Monet painting or Dearakie, but confirmed that the museum used Lloyd's as an insurer.

Paul Tucker, a leading Monet expert and former professor at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, told DNAinfo that discovering a “brand-new, unknown and undocumented Monet is extremely rare.”

Tucker said that the painting’s title, “Women in Arles,” makes it unlikely that it’s a bona fide Monet. While Arles, a French city located on the Rhone River, was a popular painting spot for artists like Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, Monet was not known to have gone there.

“There is no letter from him or any documentation that he set foot in the city,” Tucker said.

He added that there was only one documented instance in his works of Monet painting a woman laundering clothes. And even in that painting, the woman was a small part of a larger landscape.

“That was really not his subject matter,” Tucker said.

Even if the painting is returned to the Arakie heirs, another legal hurdle awaits.

Two weeks ago Dearakie’s two daughters filed petition in Manhattan Surrogate’s Court. They claim that their uncle, Edward Cohn, has kept them in the dark about the assets in their father’s estate and has failed to provide updates on any litigation.

Paul Weinstein, a lawyer for the daughters, declined to comment.

SEE ALSO: NYC renters tell us what they wish they’d known before they moved in

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NOW WATCH: Mesmerizing time-lapse of an artist drawing the New York City skyline in just 2 minutes

If you are in Washington, DC, and fancy a dip in the ocean, look no further. 

You can swim right in the heart of the city — in a pool of nearly 1 million translucent plastic balls that have been set up as an exhibit in the National Building Museum.

Special thanks to Noah Kalina, who supplied the photos.

The 10,000-square-foot exhibit — called the Beach — spans the hall of the National Building Museum.

The museum collaborated with Snarkitecture — a Brooklyn-based design studio — to build its largest public installation ever.

It opened on July 4.

Thanks to the digital camera, battlefield artists are quickly fading in relevance.

But handcrafted battlefield art often best evokes the realities of past armed conflict. Art from the skies of World War II is an fascinating genre unto itself.

Check out this blast-from-the-past aerial-combat art, a portal into the way aerial warfare used to be waged.

This post is originally by Geoffrey Ingersoll and Robert Johnson

Until the arrival of dedicated units like the US Army Air Corps' "Burma Bridge Busters," low-level attacks on Japanese supply lines were carried out by Royal Air Force Hurricane fighter-bombers like the ones shown taking out a bridge here.

Outraged when his guns jammed and determined to take down his foe, Parker Dupouy slammed his fighter into a Japanese plane to take it down.

Way less precise, way more aggressive.

In 1940, while the US still enjoyed relative peace, the Brits battled for the skies over England.

When Salvador Dalí arrived in Hollywood, he set out to meet the three surrealists he claimed to be the truest ones. Those three men were Cecil B. Demille, Harpo Marx, and Walt Disney. Disney and Dalí forged a great relationship both inside and outside the office, working on an animated feature called 'Destino' together that was completed posthumously. These powerhouse men and their wives also spent time in Spain together on holiday. They inspired each other through their work and left behind massive legacies. 

Produced by Emma Fierberg. Video courtesy of Associated Press. 

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One of my favorite ways to tour a new city is by delving into the art scene. For some cities, that might mean paying a visit (or two) to a famous museum while other destinations might take me to the street to view innovative graffiti and politically-driven murals. Fashion is also an art, as is music and I enjoy learning about these aspects just as much as I do traditional artwork. Here are ten cities that are definitely ideal for the art connoisseur.

1)  New York (especially Brooklyn)

Maybe I’m bias, but I happen to think that New York, and Brooklyn in particular, is arguably the best city for art. In fact, any time a reader asks me for tips on where to go and what to see, I really have to get a better sense of what they’re looking for because New York’s art scene isn’t something you can tackle in a weekend, let alone an entire month. For museums with an architectural build that rivals the masterpieces inside, I highly recommend The Guggenheim. For fans of street art, head straight to Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood to view artwork from The Bushwick Collective. In Queens, the Socrates Sculpture Garden is a must.

2) Paris

Ah, Paris! Where do I even begin? Similar to New York, Paris offers a wide range of art, thus allowing travelers to take their pick. Although the Louvre is almost always crowded, it’s still spectacular. Even the building itself is a work of art. Musée d’Orsay is another impressive museum scenically located on the left bank of the Seine. Exhibits here display artwork from the period 1848 to 1914. On my most recent trip to Paris, I waited in a two-hour line (because I went on a free entrance day unbeknownst to me) to the Musée Picasso and it was simply amazing. Museums aside, just stroll around Paris, taking in the perfectly manicured gardens.

3) San Francisco

Having recently moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, I’ve been slowly exploring the street art scene. The photo below is one mural that I photographed in Clarion Alley in the revamped Mission District, where mural upon mural completely adorn every inch of available wall space. For more traditional artwork, there are some great options like the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and the de Young Museum. There’s even a Cartoon Art Museum which I still need to visit. Come to think of it, museum-hopping might be the best way to tour San Francisco for great panoramic views.

4) London

London was my home for six months in college, during my semester studying and working abroad. The city quickly grew on me and I was soon on the hunt for quirky wares. In my opinion, London has some of the best outdoor markets in Europe. Head to Old Spitalfields Market for local designer clothing, Portobello Road Market for rare antiques and Camden Market to channel your inner goth (or to just shop for literally anything). London also has a fare share of impressive art museums like the V&A and the National Gallery. Fashion-forward travelers will gravitate toward the Design Museum that showcases industrial architecture, design and graphics.

5) Berlin

Berlin is still in a tie with Paris for my favorite city of all time. As different as these two cities are, they do have a lot in common when it comes to artistic expression. If Paris is the posh older sister, then Berlin is like the misbehaved little brother who loves experimenting and often gets into a bit of trouble. Street art is amazing here, especially in the Mitte, Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain neighborhoods. The city is constantly changing and it’s fun to feel part of the action. Even the architecture is in constant flux. Although the Berlin Wall is no longer a barrier between east and west, you can still see the start differences in terms of building design and urban plotting.

6) Bogotá

Although most of the cities on my list are in Europe, South America has some very art-friendly destinations as well. Perhaps the city that surprised me the most was Bogotá, Colombia. During my brief stint living in the city, I spent a few days wandering through the old neighborhood called La Candelaria. Location-wise, this neighborhood has it all. There are a slew of art museums to choose from, my top pick being the Botero Museum. When you’ve reached your attention-span limit, which is usually after two hours in a museum for me, hit the streets for vibrant street art at just about every corner. Many are politically-charged and/or give insight into the local culture.

7) Vienna

Many of Austria’s cities are ideal for the art connoisseur but perhaps none more than Vienna. I visited Austria’s capital about two years ago and after three days hopping from one museum to another, I still didn’t have time to see and do it all. I suppose that is to be expected though, considering how many attractions cater to creatives. Head to the Museum Quarter for a one-stop-shop for several different museums including The Architekturzentrum Wien for architecture, the Kunsthalle Wien for contemporary art and The Leopold Museum for Viennese masterpieces. There is also a cool display of graffiti along the Danube Canal, along with several fun nightlife venues.

8) Portland

Portland is weird and rightfully so. My time in Portland was way too short and I can’t wait to return and continue exploring the city’s hip neighborhoods. Portland is best explored on foot or by bike and you really never know what you’ll find. The Alberta Arts District is a great starting point. Here you’ll spot everything from colorful street art (pictured below) to quirky designer boutiques. This is not your typical shopping spot. Instead of picking up everyday items, you’ll find things you didn’t even know you needed like eco-friendly, vegan shoes. There are great galleries here as well, like the Monograph Bookweks, HiiH Gallery and Guardino Gallery.

9) New Orleans

Similar to Portland, New Orleans has a very distinct art appeal. Famous for it’s French-style architecture and its lively nightlife scene along Bourbon Street, the city also has quite the art scene. The Ogden Museum of Southern Art, The Historic New Orleans Collection (THNOC) and the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) are all noteworthy museums and don’t forget to swing by the “Before I die” installation. (more on that here). By far the main highlight of my trip to New Orleans was a visit to Frenchman Art Market, open nearly every evening and surrounded by live music venues and dive bars. It’s a great snapshot of what all the talented local artists are creating.

10) Kyoto

Compared to Tokyo, Kyoto comes across as much more traditional but there’s a lot going on in terms of contemporary and modern art. Many of the designers of today are blending old traditions of yesterday with new innovations and techniques of today. Kimonos are effortlessly classic but they are also being reinvented to appeal to a new generation. The design scene is just as remarkable. Bridging the gap between old and new, artists that are part of Japan Handmade, a cooperative of Kyoto-based craft artists, are constantly breaking the boundaries of traditional Japanese crafts and yet, their creations are still effortlessly Japanese in design aesthetic.

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French artist JR works anonymously, but the giant images he pastes on buildings, streets, and bridges around the world are meant to put faces on often-ignored slices of society, from victims of crime to the elderly.

The "photograffeur"— that's a combination of photographer and graffiti artist — prints humongous versions of the portraits he takes, often in black and white, and "flyposts" them where he chooses. The exhibits span whole cities and continents.

JR, who has received a TED Prize for his work, sees the streets as his stage and says he "owns the biggest art gallery in the world."

Keep scrolling to see some of the artist's most visually arresting works.

SEE ALSO: 25 of Banksy's cleverest works

In early 2014, JR took portraits of dozens of people, and turned them into a collage around the dome of the Pantheon in Paris while it was under construction. The installation depicted "the diversity of the contemporary world."

More of the artist's portraits displayed under the dome of the Pantheon in Paris.

For another exhibit, JR created an upside-down portrait of paper strips. It covered the facade of the French National Library in Paris in November 2013.

When Lois Gibson was just 21, she was attacked by a serial rapist and killer.

This terrifying event served as her motivation to become a criminal sketch artist, and now she's one of the most successful in the world, having helped law enforcement catch more than 1,000 criminals during her career.

Gibson holds The Guinness World Record for most identifications by a forensic artist in the world, along with a plethora of other awards for her efforts. A drawing of hers even holds the distinction of being the first forensic sketch shown on "America's Most Wanted."

Check out these 10 sketches and photos of suspects and victims to see just how good Gibson is.

SEE ALSO: 17 works of art by mysterious French artist JR

"10 Hour Old Baby Kidnapping"

Gibson graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honors and the FBI Academy Forensic Artist Course. Now she has become the teacher, passing on her wisdom of forensics to students at Northwestern University and The Institute of Forensic Art in Houston, Texas.

"Don Dutton"

She co-authored her first book, "Faces of Evil," with renowned writer Deanie Francis Mills, and wrote a second called "Forensic Art Essentials" so that she could help illustrate tips to people interested in learning or developing the discipline.  

"Tiffers, 6"

Her goal is to help anyone who wants to become a forensic artist, as there are very few of them. She even trained Israel's first forensic artist, Gil Gibli. 

Kendrick Lamar has had an incredible 2015, so far. His highly anticipated March album, "To Pimp a Butterfly," was considered by many to be leaps and bounds above anything else released in recent months.

But a lawsuit against the rapper involving one of the songs on the album could put Lamar's celebration on pause. 

On July 10, photographer Giordano Cipriani filed documents in New York Federal Court claiming Lamar used as album art a photo Cipriani took earlier this year depicting a woman breastfeeding. The photo was used for Lamar's song, "The Blacker the Berry," Bossip reported. 

According to the suit, Cipriani has requested Lamar stop using the photo and cough up $150,000 for each time it was used in relation to the record. He has also asked that Lamar pay legal fees.

Lamar, his record label Top Dawg Entertainment, and Interscope Records have all been named as defendants in the suit.

Business Insider has reached out to Top Dawg Entertainment and Interscope Records for comment. We will update this post if/when we receive a response.

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British artist Willard Wigan creates micro-sculptures that fit inside the head of a needle.  In addition to his original artwork, he has created a miniature "Ant-Man" figure ahead of the blockbuster's release, and the work is on display in London at "Antsibition."

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 An art museum has figured out the secret to making 18th century art appeal to teens: meme-ifying it on Snapchat.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is using the Snapchat username lacma_museum to post photos of its artwork with clever captions, strategically placed emojis, and even the occasional doodle. The joined about a year ago, according to BuzzFeed.

And it's incredibly funny.

The account was created by Maritza Lerman Yoes and it's currently run by Lucy Redoglia. As the social media manager of LACMA, Redoglia regularly peruses the museum's galleries with her iPhone in hand.

"Sometimes I think of the artwork first, sometimes I think of the caption first," she told Business Insider.

She also spends time surfing the web for trending stories, popular hashtags, and other content with which teenagers can relate.

The museum's mission is both to attract millennials to the museum and circulate images of LACMA's art collection. The Snapchat account allows Redoglia to take a "lighthearted approach" to artistic masterpieces and be "more tongue-in-cheek and more pop culture oriented," she says.

While many museums are striving to become family friendly, it can be tougher to excite teens. Museums of ten forget to "persuade teenagers that museums are for them too,"writes Mar Dixon in the Guardian.

Snapchat's median user is 18, so it's great for appealing to teens.

Not only is the museum accomplishing its goal of circulating images of its collection, it's actually succeeded in engaging young people in the artwork.

Last week, Snapchat users could create and submit their own captions to LACMA artwork using CNN's Discover feature. The museum received over 1,000 submissions. 

Here is what some Twitter users are saying about LACMA's snaps:

If your Snapchat friends are anything like my Snapchat friends, LACMA will soon become the only Snapchat story you look forward to watching.

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Why focus on interest rates when you could be buying Renaissance art?

On Thursday, The National Bank of Hungary announced on its website that it had purchased a work by the 16th century painter Titian, one of the most influential artists from the Venetian school.

The work depicting "Madonna and Child and Saint Paul" was purchased for 4.5 billion forints ($15.8 million) from an undisclosed Hungarian collector.

Since January 2014, the central bank has purchased 7.8 billion forints ($27.4 million) worth of art under an art buyback depository program. The program was launched with 30 billion forints ($105.5 million) in funding with the goal of purchasing major artwork that was either once Hungarian-owned or currently Hungarian-owned, in order to keep the treasures in the country.

"The painting is among the most significant works of art unearthed in Hungary in the last half-century," the bank said in a statement. They added that their art buyback program puts The National Bank of Hungary among the top central banks committed to the protection of cultural heritage.

Other items recently purchased by the bank include a collection of centuries-old silver coins from Transylvania and works by Hungarian painters Mihály Munkácsy and Desiderius Orban.

But the central bank hasn’t stopped at art.

"As well as the art-buying program, the central bank has put its financial gains to use by setting aside 200 billion forints for an education program, and purchasing several pieces of real estate, including a four-star hotel in an 18th century palatial residence in the countryside," the Wall Street Journal reported.

All of these purchases were made with the bank's profits and not taxpayer dollars.

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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but paintings by big-name artists always lead the pack when it comes to record-breaking art sales. Case in point: Pablo Picasso's "Les Femmes d'Alger (Version O)" recently became the most expensive painting ever to sell at auction, with a whopping $179.4 million purchase price.

For a global glimpse of the world's priciest paintings, Howmuch.net created these artful maps.  

 North America

Andy Warhol is the artist behind North America's highest-priced painting. The Pittsburgh-born visionary who fathered the Pop Art movement painted a piece entitled "Silver Car Crash," which was last sold for $105.4 million. 

Behind Warhol, Canadian artist Lawren Stewart Harris' "The Old Tree Stump, Lake Superior" is valued at $3.3 million; Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo's "Trovador" is worth $7.2 million; and Cuban artist Wilfredo Lam's "ídolo (Oya/Divinité de l’air et de la mort)" was last sold for $4.5 million. 

Europe 

Europe has bragging rights for the world's most expensive painting ever sold at auction, Picasso's "Les Femmes d'Alger (Version O)." Second to Picasso, Renaissance artist Francis Bacon's "Three Studies of Lucian Freud" sold for a then-world record $142.4 million in 2013. The rest of Europe's top five priciest paintings belong to Norwegian artist Edward Munch's haunting "The Scream," Austrian artist Gustav Klimt's "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II," and Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh's "Portrait du Dr. Gachet."

Other notable works include France’s Claude Monet's "Le Bassin aux Nymphéas," Peter Paul Rubens' "Massacre of the Innocents" and Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani’s "Nu assis sur un divan (La belle romaine)." 

Asia

Although technically not in Asia, Russian artist Kasimir Severinovich Malevich’s "Suprematist Composition" is valued at $60 million. Chinese painter Zhanf Daqian painted "Lotus and Mandarin Ducks," now worth about $24.5 million. "Deer Hunt," by Indonesian painter Raden Saleh, is worth about $7.5 million today.

Australia

The painting titled "Armchair" by Australian artist Brett Whiteley sold for $3.9 million in 2013, a record for an Australian piece of art. 

South America 

Chilean artist Roberto Matta painted the most expensive piece of South American art with "La Révolte des Contraires," now worth $5 million; Colombian artist Fernando Botero's "The Musicians" is worth roughly $2.6 million; and Brazil's Lygia Clark painted a $2.2 million piece of art called "Contra Relevo (Objeto N. 7)." Elsewhere in South America, Uruguay's Joaquín Torres García’s "Constructif Mysterieux," is valued at $1.7 million.

Africa

In 2011, South African painter Irma Stern's "Arab Priest" sold at auction for nearly $5 million, making it the most valuable known piece of African art. In Egypt, painter Mahmoud Said's "The Whirling Dervishes" sold at auction in 2010 for more than $2.5 million.

SEE ALSO: These surreal 3D paintings were created by injecting oil paint into gel

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Produced by Sam Rega. Edited by David Fang.

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