This is a list of the 30 highest prices paid for photographs (in US dollars unless otherwise stated). All prices include the buyer's premium, which is the auction house fee for handling the work.
This is a list of the 30 highest prices paid for photographs (in US dollars unless otherwise stated). All prices include the buyer's premium, which is the auction house fee for handling the work.
| Rank | Artist | Work | Price | Date | Seller/Auction |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man Ray | Le Violon d'Ingres (1924) | $12,400,000 | May 14, 2022 | Christie's New York [1] |
| 2 | Edward Steichen | The Flatiron (1904) | $11,800,000 | Nov 10, 2022 | Christie's New York [2] |
| 3 | Andreas Gursky | Rhein II (1999) | $4,338,500 | November 8, 2011 | Christie's New York [3] |
| 4 | Richard Prince | Spiritual America (1981) | $3,973,000 | May 12, 2014 | Christie's New York [4] |
| 5 | Cindy Sherman | Untitled #96 (1981) | $3,890,500 | May 11, 2011 | Christie's New York [5] |
| 6 | Cindy Sherman | Untitled #93 (1981) | $3,861,000 | May 14, 2014 | Sotheby's New York [6] |
| 7 | Gilbert & George | To Her Majesty (1973) | $3,765,276 | June 30, 2008 | Christie's London [7] |
| 8 | Richard Prince | Untitled (Cowboy) (1998) | $3,749,000 | May 12, 2014 | Christie's New York [8] |
| 9 | Jeff Wall | Dead Troops Talk (A vision after an ambush of a Red Army patrol, near Moqor, Afghanistan, winter 1986) (1992) | $3,666,500 | May 8, 2012 | Christie's New York [9] |
| 10 | Richard Prince | Untitled (Cowboy) (2000) | $3,525,000 | May 10, 2016 | Christie's New York [10] |
| 11 | Richard Prince | Untitled (Cowboy) (2001-2002) | $3,401,000 | November 14, 2007 | Sotheby's New York [11] |
| 12 | Andreas Gursky | 99 Cent II Diptychon (2001) | $3,346,456 | February 2007 | Sotheby's London [12] |
| 13 | Andreas Gursky | Chicago Board of Trade III (1999-2009) | $3,298,755 | June 26, 2013 | Sotheby's London [13] |
| 14 | Man Ray | Noire et Blanche (1926) | $3,131,533 | Nov 8, 2017 | Christie's Paris [14] |
| 15 | Richard Prince | Untitled (Cowboy) (2000) | $3,077,000 | May 14, 2014 | Sotheby's New York [15] |
| 16 | Richard Prince | Untitled (Cowboy) (1997) | $3,030,000 | November 9, 2021 | Christie's New York [16] |
| 17 | Cindy Sherman | Untitled Film Still #48 (1979) | $2,965,000 | May 13, 2015 | Christie's New York [17] |
| 18 | Edward Steichen | The Pond—Moonlight (1904) | $2,928,000 | February 2006 | Sotheby's New York [18] [19] |
| 19 | Andreas Gursky | Los Angeles (1998) | $2,900,000 | February 27, 2008 | Sotheby's London [20] |
| 20 | Cindy Sherman | Untitled #96 (1981) | $2,882,500 | May 8, 2012 | Christie's New York [21] |
| 21 | Richard Prince | Untitled (Cowboy) (2000) | $2,840,000 | May 16, 2007 | Christie's New York [22] |
| 22 | Cindy Sherman | Untitled #153 (1985) | $2,770,500 | November 8, 2010 | Phillips de Pury & Co. New York [23] |
| 23 | Andreas Gursky | Chicago Board of Trade (1997) | $2,507,755 | June 23, 2013 | Sotheby's London [24] |
| 24 | Andreas Gursky | 99 Cent II Diptychon (2001) | $2,480,000 | November 16, 2006 | Phillips de Pury & Co. New York [25] |
| 25 | Andreas Gursky | Paris, Montparnasse (1993) | $2,416,475 | October 17, 2013 | Sotheby's London [26] |
| 26 | unknown | Billy the Kid (1879–80) tintype portrait | $2,300,000 | June 2011 | Brian Lebel's Old West Show & Auction [27] |
| 27 | Andreas Gursky | 99 Cent (1999) | $2,256,000 | May 6, 2006 | Sotheby's New York [28] |
| 28 | Andreas Gursky | 99 Cent II Diptychon (2001) | $2,250,000 | May 2006 | Sotheby's London [29] |
| 29 | Cindy Sherman | Untitled Film Still #48 (1979) | $2,225,000 | November 11, 2014 | Sotheby's New York [30] |
| 30 | Man Ray | Portrait of a Tearful Woman (1936) | $2,167,500 | May 17, 2017 | Christie's New York [31] |
Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Amsterdam, Geneva, Shanghai, and Dubai. It is owned by Groupe Artémis, the holding company of François Pinault. In 2022 Christie's sold US$8.4 billion in art and luxury goods, an all-time high for any auction house. On 15 November 2017, the Salvator Mundi was sold at Christie's in New York for $450 million to Saudi Prince Badr bin Abdullah Al Saud, the highest price ever paid for a painting.
Richard Prince is an American painter and photographer. In the mid-1970s, Prince made drawings and painterly collages that he has since disowned. His image, Untitled (Cowboy), a photographic reproduction of a photograph by Sam Abell and taken from a cigarette advertisement, was the first rephotograph to be sold for more than $1 million at auction at Christie's New York in 2005. He is regarded as "one of the most revered artists of his generation" according to The New York Times.
Andreas Gursky is a German photographer and professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany.
Cynthia Morris Sherman is an American artist whose work consists primarily of photographic self-portraits, depicting herself in many different contexts and as various imagined characters.
Peter Lik is an Australian photographer best known for his nature and panoramic landscape images. He hosted From the Edge with Peter Lik, which aired for one season on The Weather Channel.
99 Cent II Diptychon is a two-part colour photograph made by Andreas Gursky in 2001. It was based on an original photograph called 99 Cent, from 1999, sometimes called "99 cent.1999".
Rhein II is a colour photograph made by German visual artist Andreas Gursky in 1999. In the image, a river flows horizontally across the field of view, between flat green fields, under an overcast sky. Extraneous details such as dog walkers and a factory building were removed by the artist using digital editing.
Untitled #96 is a color photograph made by American visual artist Cindy Sherman in 1981. It is known as part of her Centerfold series of 12 pictures. On 11 May 2011, a print was auctioned for US$3.89 million, the highest price paid for a photographic print at that time, though the price has since been surpassed. Another print was sold by $2,882,500 at Christie's New York, at 8 May 2012.
Untitled #153 is a color photograph made by American visual artist Cindy Sherman in 1985. In 2010, a print was auctioned for $2.7 million, making it one of the most expensive photographs ever sold at that time.
Untitled Film Stills is a series of black and white photographs by American visual artist Cindy Sherman predominantly made between 1977 and 1980, which gained her international recognition. Sherman casts herself in various stereotypical female roles inspired by 1950s and 1960s films.
Chicago Board of Trade, also known as Chicago Board of Trade I, is a colour photograph made by German artist Andreas Gursky in 1997. It is the original picture that he took of the Chicago Board of Trade, of which he would make new versions in 1999 and in 2009. The photograph had six editions, one of which is at The Broad Museum, in Los Angeles. It is also a part of a series that the artist made on the subject of stock exchanges and board of trades across the world, since 1990.
Paris, Montparnasse is a colour photograph created by German photographer Andreas Gursky in 1993. The large photograph has the overall dimensions of 210 by 395 cm, and had a five copies edition.
Rhein, also known as Rhein I, is a colour photograph created by the German photographer Andreas Gursky in 1996. The photograph had a six copies edition. This was the first version of a photograph that become better known with his second version, Rhein II, in 1999.
Untitled Film Still #48 is a black and white photograph taken by Cindy Sherman in 1979. It is part of her Untitled Film Stills photographic series, taken from 1977 to 1980. This picture is also known as The Hitchhiker.
Untitled #93 is a color photograph created by Cindy Sherman in 1981. It is part of her Centerfolds series of 12 photographs made for the Artforum magazine. They were never published there but went to be exhibited publicly the same year, to critical acclaim.
Pyongyang IV is a color photograph created by German photographer Andreas Gursky in 2007. It is part of the series Pyongyang, consisting of seven photographs, digitally conceived, after his attendance at the Arirang Mass Games, that used to be held every year at the Rungrado May Day Stadium, in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, in tribute to the late Communist ruler Kim Il Sung.
99 Cent is a colour photograph by German photographer Andreas Gursky, created in 1999. It depicts a view of the interior of a 99 cent store in Los Angeles. It was created with the use of digital manipulation, like the artist has done for his work since 1990. The photograph was included in Time magazine's 1999 list of the 100 most important photographs ever taken. Gursky made a new version of this photograph, 99 Cent II Diptychon, in 2001, which would be one of the most expensive ever sold.
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