1. Damien Hirst
The richest painter in the world is Damien Hirst, a British artist who initially became famous for a slew of projects showing dead animals preserved in a display case. He is responsible for creating “spin paintings”, which make things on a flat surface look as though they’re spinning, and has continued to monetize his brand in ways never seen before.
He estimates his worth to be over $1 billion now, and raised $198 million for one exhibit in 2008. Hirst is known to be somewhat of a “sell-out” in the artistic world, as unlike the rest of the painters on this list, Hirst promotes his wealth and wears his net-worth directly on his sleeve. He comes up in every mildly relevant Google search, and his net-worth is thought to be over a billion only because he refuted a 2009 claim that he was only worth $388 million. Yet, whether it’s closer to $1 billion or $388 million, Damien Hirst is the richest painter in the world.
