A photograph is just a moment captured by a camera lens. How expensive can such a photo cost? You will be surprised, but sometimes the price is calculated not even in hundreds and thousands, but in millions of US dollars.
Often the sales amounts are so high that they overshadow the value of the works of the greatest artists and sculptors. We are sure you will be wondering who the authors of these amazingly expensive photographs are and what is depicted on them.
This photo is the oldest on our list, dating back to 1904. However, it was sold for an impressive price of $2.9 million only in 2004. The photo was taken in the suburbs of New York on a pond, behind which a dense forest can be seen. 
The only thing that attracts attention in this gloomy photo is the dim moonlight reflected from the surface of the water. The photograph is interesting because it was made in color, although at that time it was technically impossible to do this in the usual ways. To achieve the unique effect, Steichen created the colored elements by hand, applying light-sensitive layers to printing paper.
99 Cents II, Andreas Gursky
This is the work of German photographer Andreas Gursky, which was sold for 3.3 million dollars at the London Sotheby's auction. At first glance, this is an ordinary photo that can be taken in any hypermarket. What is striking is not only the abundance of goods, but also how they merge into orderly rows of colored dots, practically depriving the buyer of the right to choose. different time– in 2000 and 2001, and later edited in a computer program. 
For Her Majesty, Gilbert Prosch and George Passmore
This photographic work was taken in 1973 as part of the Living Sculptures project and was called “For Her Majesty.” It brings together several black and white photographs that are dedicated to the memory of an evening of drunkenness. Gilbert Prosch and George Passmore believed that all artists are addicted to alcohol, but at the same time create “sober” paintings. Photo reflects real life- as she really is. The photograph was auctioned at Christie's in London for $3.7 million, this happened in 2008. 
Chicago Mercantile Exchange III, Andreas Gursky
This time the author captured in the lens shopping room Chicago Stock Exchange during its peak hours. Here you can see excited brokers, rows of monitors, and tables littered with sheets of paper. Gursky shot from different angles and then combined the photographs into one using digital processing techniques. The result obtained is estimated at 3.3 million dollars (London 2013, Sotheby's auction). 
Cowboy, Richard Prince
Two photographs by Richard Prince were included in the list of the most expensive photographs on the planet. If “Spiritual America,” which will be discussed below, is associated with scandalous events, then “Cowboy” is a typical advertising material created for the famous tobacco company Philip Morris. At Christie's auction the photograph was sold for $3.5 million. 
And again, the question of the authorship of the photo is acute - it was made based on the work of Sam Abel and reworked by Prince taking into account the concept of Marlboro cigarettes. Simply put, it is a photograph of one of the fragments of another photograph. The result is a positive image of a cowboy hero, who symbolizes masculinity, belonging to Native Americans and at the same time promotes, in general, not the most healthy habit.
Dead Soldiers Talking, Jeff Wall
Full name of this famous photograph, dedicated to the war, sounds much longer - “Vision after an ambush attack on soldiers of the USSR army in Afghanistan in the winter of 1986.” In fact, the photo was taken in 1992 and is staged. It depicts soldiers with serious injuries at the moment of resurrection, and imaginary conversations between them are an attempt to comprehend their new emotional status. 
The editors of the site clarify that the filming took place in the studio, a separate photo was taken for each fragment, and then Jeff Wall brought them together. The photograph was sold in 2012 at Christie's for $3.6 million.
Spiritual America, Richard Prince
In the original, the title of this photo sounds like Spiritual America and it is unlikely that the Russian translation fully conveys the meaning intended by its author, Richard Prince. The picture was taken in 1983 and brought the creator more than 3.7 million dollars as a result of sale at Christie's auction in 2014. 
Richard is a notorious appropriation photographer, the author of many controversial works. “Spiritual America,” which features a nude ten-year-old Brooke Shields, is an appeal to no less famous photograph 1923, made by Alfred Stieglitz. The latter depicts a fragment of a harnessed castrated horse, symbolizing the image of America during the Great Depression.
Stills from Untitled Films, No. 96, Sidney Sherman
None of the 12 photographs in Sydney Sherman's Centerfold series have a title. In this way, the author unobtrusively gives us the opportunity to evaluate for ourselves what is depicted in the photographs. Photo number #96, which depicts a girl with newspaper clippings in her hands, was sold at Christie's auction in 2014 for $3.9 million. 
Advertisements for a man, which are easily visible in this fragment, became a symbol of her transformation into a woman. By the way, Sydney Sherman herself posed for all the photographs in this series. Other works by her, numbered #93 and #48, were also highly appreciated, and were sold for $3.8 and $2.9 million, respectively.
Rhine II, Andreas Gursky
A German photographer created this amazing expensive photo back in 1999. The image of the Rhine River in rainy weather was so popular among photography fans that it was valued at $4.3 million—that’s how much it was sold for at Christie’s in 2011. By the way, in the original version there were three more objects on it: a person, a dog and a power plant. However, Andreas got rid of them in a photo editor. Today the painting is in the hands of an unknown private collector. 
Phantom, Peter Lik
This photo is not in some official ratings, since everything that is known about its sale, the world knows only from the words of the author, Peter Lik. He claims that in 2014 he sold the photo “Phantom” to an anonymous buyer for a record $6.5 million. Photography in black and white colors taken in Antelope Canyon, Arizona. Peter claims that in it he captured the power of nature in a way that would inspire others with passion and make them feel connected to nature. 
In the more than one and a half hundred years that have passed since the invention of photography, it has become a real art. Without exaggeration, we can say that the same thing happened with cinema. There are many film awards that each year recognize the best and worst films made during that period. The editors of the site invite you to read about the history of cinema.
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The cost of some photographs is comparable to the cost of the most famous works of the great Renaissance artists. What is the value of these photographs? What distinguishes them from the millions of selfies, photos of cats and children that we see every day? What reasons make art connoisseurs shell out incredible sums for exclusive photographs? We present to you the most expensive photographs in the world.
1. Peter Likom: Phantom ($6.5 million)
The photograph, taken in 1999 by Peter Lik, is called "Phantom". Its cost is estimated at 6.5 (!) million dollars. So far this is the most expensive photography in the world throughout history. Peter Lik made it while he was in Arizona.
2. Andreas Gursky: Rhein II ($4.33 million)
This photo has made the rounds on the Internet more than once. The author is German Andreas Gursky. The photo, taken in 1999, is called "Rhine II". The price of the photograph is impressive: $4,338 thousand. Gursky is a famous photographic artist, and in his collection there are several photographs sold for millions of dollars. The photo shows the German Rhine River between dams in rainy weather.
The original version featured a power plant, a passerby and a dog. The author retouched all this in Photoshop. This is one of the photographs from the Rhine series. The photograph was auctioned in 2011 at Christie's. Its first owner was the Cologne gallery of Monika Sprüt, then the work went to an unknown collector.
3. Cindy Sherman: « No. 96" ($3.89 million)
The work of the extravagant American photographer Cindy Sherman was made using the technique of so-called staged photographs. This is her most expensive and widely known work, made in 1981, instead of the title there is No. 96. The photo was purchased for $3,890 thousand. The picture shows a bright girl: red hair, freckles, orange clothes.
Cindy Sherman, a self-described performance artist, brings a special meaning to photography. In her opinion, this was an attempt to capture the realization of immature femininity through the innocent image of a young pretty girl. A teenager holds in his hands a piece of newspaper with dating advertisements. The photograph was sold in 2011 at Christie’s auction.
4. Jeff Wall: Dead Warriors Speak ($3.66 million)
“Dead Warriors Speak” is a photograph with such an epic title, strictly speaking, and not a photograph at all. This is a masterful photo collage made by Jeff Wall in 1992 and sold at auction for $3,666,500. It looks very realistic but is staged. The plot takes place in 1986 in Afghanistan. The photo shows a military ambush of Red Army soldiers, but in reality it is a dozen professional actors posing. The historicity is preserved - the characters are made up and dressed in appropriate costumes. The photograph taken in the studio was later processed by Jeff Wall in a photo editor.
5. Richard Prince: “Cowboy” ($3.4 million)
In 2001–2002, Richard Prince created a photograph for a Marlboro advertisement and called it "Cowboy". In 2007, “Cowboy” was sold at Christie’s for a whopping $3.4 million.
6. Andreas Gursky: “99 Cents” ($3.34 million)
Andreas Gursky's insanely expensive 2001 diptych 99 Cents II depicts a moment from a day at a 99 Cent store. Like the Rhine II, which was already mentioned above, the photo is extremely popular. Perhaps the style of photography, the insane perfectionism in organizing the goods, the spirit of consumption - all this made the work one of the most expensive in history. 99 Cents II was purchased by a collector for $3,346,456.
7. Edward Steichen: “Moonlight Pond” ($3 million)
This photograph by Edward Steichen does not pretend to be deeply meaningful or particularly eccentric. Its uniqueness and value are determined by the fact that “Pond by Moonlight” is the first color photograph in the history of photography taken at night. Steichen made it in 1904. Now it's worth almost $3 million.
8. Cindy Sherman:« No. 153" ($2.7 million)
9. Andreas Gursky:"Chicago Chamber of Commerce -III" ($2.35 million)
An equally popular photograph by Andreas Gursky, sold for $2,355,597, is called “Chicago Board of Trade III.” It was also made in a series from 1999 to 2009. This photo is of exceptional resolution. The huge canvas print (approximately 185 x 240 cm) depicts the everyday life of the Chicago Chamber of Commerce. If you enlarge the picture, you can see the working staff, computers, and clothing down to the smallest detail. The photograph was bought for more than two million dollars in 2013.
10. Fort Sumner from New Mexico: “Billy the Kid” ($2.3 million)
Billy the Kid, aka Fort Sumner from New Mexico, is known to modern times from one surviving photograph. The photograph was presumably taken in 1879–1880; history has not preserved the name of the author. The unique photograph was purchased by an unknown collector for $2.3 million several years ago.
11. Dmitry Medvedev: “Tobolsk Kremlin” ($1.7 million)
The photograph “Tobolsk Kremlin” went under the hammer at the “Christmas ABC” auction dedicated to charity. The cost of the work is impressive by Russian standards - 51 million rubles. ($1.7 million at the 2009 exchange rate) The uniqueness of the photograph is due to the uniqueness of the author. It was taken in 2009 by now ex-President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev from a bird's eye view during an excursion.
12. Edward Weston: Naked Exposure ($1.6 million)
"Nude Exposure" by Edward Weston is an erotic photograph taken in 1925 that depicts the naked body of Tina Modotti. Weston’s beloved woman and assistant helped him create the photograph, which, according to 2008 data, is estimated at $1,609 thousand.
13. Alfred Stieglitz: Georgia O'Keeffe ($1.47 million)
In 1919, Alfred Stieglitz took a powerful photograph of the inspired hands of artist Georgia O'Keeffe. The photograph of the same name “Georgia O’Keeffe” in the winter of 2006 was sold at the famous New York auction Sotheby’s for $1,470 thousand.
14. Alfred Stieglitz: “Georgia O'Keeffe (Nude)” ($1.36 million)
"Georgia O'Keeffe (Nude)", Alfred Stieglitz. The photo was sold for $1,360,000 in February 2006 at Sotheby's in New York.
The cost of photographs can be explained by the fact that Alfred Stieglitz was the man who almost single-handedly “pushed” the United States into the world of art of the 20th century. Stieglitz's passionate struggle for recognition of photography as an art form was ultimately crowned with his unconditional triumph.
15. Richard Avedon: Dovima and the Elephants ($1.15 million)
At one of the exhibitions in 1955, Richard Avedon presented the photograph “Dovima and the Elephants.” A Christie's auction in 2010 found a buyer who purchased the photograph for $1,151,976.
16. Peter Lik: “Alone” ($1 million)
Another photograph by Peter Lik, entitled “Alone,” taken a year later, was sold to a private collector for $1 million. The price of the photograph may be due to the fact that the author took a single frame and printed only one photograph. On his website, Peter Lik says that the photo was and will be one of a kind. By the way, it was made in New Hampshire, on the Androscoggin River, in America.
We have already discussed more than once the topic of value and the real adequate cost of creativity and works of art. But, art is subjective and, most often, does not lend itself to reasonable interpretation, as well as the prices for these photographs, which cost just crazy money!!!
1. Phantom (1999)
The photograph, taken in 1999 by Peter Lik, is called "Phantom". Its cost is estimated at 6.5 million dollars!!! So far this is the most expensive photograph in the world in history. Peter Leake took it while he was in Antelope Canyon, Arizona.
2. Rain II (1999)
Author: Andreas Gursky
Price: $4.34 million
Andreas Gursky is a famous German photographer; he has many photographs that were later sold for incredible amounts of money. In 1999, he took the photograph "Rhine II", which shows the Rhine River between two dams under a majestic overcast sky. In total, Gursky created six images of the Rhine, and "Rhine II" is the largest photograph in the series.
The most amazing thing about the photo is that it was made using Photoshop: initially the background was “spoilt” by a power plant, port facilities and a passerby walking his dog - all of this was removed by Gursky, leaving only the Rhine itself and the dams.
Gursky commented on his actions: "Paradoxically, this view of the Rhine could not be obtained in situ; modification was necessary to provide an accurate image of the modern river."
After finalization, the photographer printed a photograph measuring 185.4×363.5 cm, mounted it on acrylic glass and placed it in a frame. The photograph was sold at Christie's in New York for $4,338,500 in 2011 - the buyer was the Monika Sprüth gallery in Cologne, and the photograph was subsequently resold to an unknown collector.
3. Untitled #96 (1981)
Author: Cindy Sherman
Price: $3.89 million
American photographer Cindy Sherman works in the technique of staged photographs. Her work is widely known among the arts community, and she is ranked seventh on ArtReview's 2011 list of the 100 Most Influential People in the Art World. Sherman herself calls herself a performance artist and categorically refuses to recognize herself as a photographer.
One of her most famous and expensive works is photograph #96, taken in 1981: the picture shows a girl, freckled, with red hair and wearing bright orange clothes, lying on her back and looking into the distance. According to Sherman, the photograph carries a deep meaning - a teenage girl, at the same time seductive and innocent, holds in her hand a piece of newspaper with dating advertisements, which means that the still fragile female essence is looking for a way to break out.
The photograph was purchased at a Christie’s auction in 2011 by an unknown collector.
4. For Her Majesty, a collage of photographs (1973)
Authors: Gilbert Prosch and George Passmore
Price: $3.77 million
British artists Gilbert Prosch and George Passmore work in the genre of performance photography. Their works in which they acted as living sculptures brought them worldwide fame.
Their collage of photographs, taken back in 1973, was sold for a lot of money at auction in 2008: black and white photographs depict men in expensive suits combined with interior items. Buyer unknown.
5. “Dead Warriors Speak” (1992)
Author: Jeff Wall
Price: $3.67 million
Canadian photographer Jeff Wall is known for his large-format photographs: the artist’s “calling card” is the technique he developed for printing images on transparent basis.
His most famous work, “Dead Warriors Speak,” was created under the influence of the war in Afghanistan. Despite the realism, this is a staged photograph: all the people in the picture are guest actors. When working on it, Wall used makeup and costumes, and the photo itself was taken in a photo studio and later processed on a computer.
The finished image, measuring 229x417 cm, was printed on a transparent base and placed in a plastic box.
6. Untitled (Cowboy) (2001–2002)
Author: Richard Prince
Price: $3.40 million
Richard Prince is considered one of the most celebrated American artists of his generation. The main themes of his works are stylization for the period of so-called “American antiquity” and modern world consumption. Three photographs brought him world fame, including “Cowboy”.
The photograph was created specifically for advertising campaign“Marlboro”: the cowboy in the picture, according to the artist, appears not as a typical standard of American courage, glorified in Westerns, but as some kind of illusory sex symbol, an unattainable ideal of a real man.
The painting was sold in 2007 at Christie’s auction.
7. 99 cents II, diptych (2001)
Author: Andreas Gursky
Price: $3.35 million
The aforementioned “Rhine II” is not Gursky’s only million-selling photograph: his two-photo work “99 Cents II” sold for less, but still brought in several million more dollars for its creator.
The photographs show a supermarket where consumer goods are displayed. In general, the two photographs are strikingly similar and differ only in angles. Of course, Gursky resorted to computer processing to remove unnecessary details- buyers, low hanging lamps and wires.
The photograph was purchased in 2007 by Ukrainian businessman Viktor Pinchuk. High price photographs is due, first of all, to the name of the author, which by the time of sale had already acquired enormous fame.
8. Los Angeles (1998)
Author: Andreas Gursky
Price: $2.94 million
Another photograph by Gursky depicts the night landscape of Los Angeles - the city from a bird's eye view looks like a field of distant artificial lights. Photography symbolizes the modern world and man’s place in it. According to the artist’s idea, man is the main character of this photograph: everyone lives in a huge world of universal globalization, where he takes the place of just one of millions of the same inhabitants.
9. Lake in the Moonlight (1904)
Author: Edward Steichen
Price: $2.93 million
Impressionist artist Edward Steichen worked in the first half of the 20th century: he created a famous series of portraits of Hollywood celebrities, and later took up documentary filmmaking, for which he received several Oscars.
His most famous photographic work, “Lake in the Moonlight,” is an autochrome photograph: originally a black and white photograph, “Lake” acquired color thanks to Steichen’s use of light-sensitive jelly. No one had used this technology before, so the picture can be considered the world's first color photograph.
In 2006, “Lake in the Moonlight” was sold at Sotheby’s for a huge amount of money. The price can be considered reasonable - the photograph is more than a century old, and it is an excellent preserved illustration of the history of photography.
10. Untitled #153 (1985)
Author: Cindy Sherman
Price: $2.77 million
Another example of Cindy Sherman's work is untitled photograph #153. It depicts a dead, mud-stained woman with bluish-gray hair, glassy eyes looking up at the sky, her mouth half-open, and a bruise visible on her cheek. The photo leaves behind an eerie feeling, but, nevertheless, it was sold at auction for a seven-figure sum.
11. Billy the Kid (1879–80)
Author: unknown
Price: $2.30 million
Billy the Kid was an American criminal accused of killing 21 people. The governor of one of the states of the Wild West offered a large reward for his capture, and Kid was killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett, who then wrote a biography of the thug.
The uniqueness of this photograph is that it is the only image of Billy the Kid; no other photographs exist. It was sold in 2011 at the 22nd annual Brian Lebel's Old West Show & Auction in Denver. Collector William Koch bought it for more than $2 million, although the organizers initially did not expect to receive more than $400 thousand for the photo.
The authorship is attributed to Kid's friend Dan Dedrick, but it is no longer possible to determine exactly who took the photo. The photograph was taken using the ambrotype method, using a metal plate, and the image on it is reflected in a mirror.
12. Tobolsk Kremlin (2009)
Author: Dmitry Medvedev
Price: $1.70 million
The photograph “Tobolsk Kremlin” went under the hammer at the “Christmas ABC” auction dedicated to charity. The cost of the work is impressive by Russian standards - 51 million rubles. ($1.7 million at the 2009 exchange rate) The uniqueness of the photograph is due to the uniqueness of the author. It was taken in 2009 by now ex-President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev from a bird's eye view during an excursion.
13. Naked Exposure (1925)
Author: Edward Weston
Price: $1.60 million
"Nude Exposure" by Edward Weston is an erotic photograph taken in 1925 that depicts the naked body of Tina Modotti. Weston’s beloved woman and assistant helped him create the photograph, which, according to 2008 data, is estimated at $1,609 thousand.
14. Georgia O'Keeffe (1919)
Author: Alfred Stieglitz
Price: $1.47 million
In 1919, Alfred Stieglitz took a powerful photograph of the inspired hands of artist Georgia O'Keeffe. The photograph of the same name “Georgia O’Keeffe” in the winter of 2006 was sold at the famous New York auction Sotheby’s for $1,470 thousand.
15. Georgia O'Keeffe (Nude)
Author: Alfred Stieglitz
Price: $1.36 million
The photo was sold for $1,360,000 in February 2006 at Sotheby's in New York. The cost of photographs can be explained by the fact that Alfred Stieglitz was the man who almost single-handedly “pushed” the United States into the world of art of the 20th century. Stieglitz's passionate struggle for recognition of photography as an art form was ultimately crowned with his unconditional triumph.
Sources:
The total cost of the ten most expensive photographs is almost 40 million US dollars! Almost all the photographs were sold at auction during the lifetime of the authors. And some photographers were able to sell more than one of their photographs for more than a million dollars each.
Let's look at the photographs that made their authors millionaires:
10th place - Cindy Sherman - Untitled Photo No. 48 (1979) - sold for $2,965,000 in 2015 at Christie’s New York 
9th place - Richard Prince - Untitled photo from the Cowboy series (2000) - sold for $3,077,000 in 2014 at Sotheby’s New York auction 
8th place - Andreas Gursky - Chicago Mercantile Exchange III (1999) - sold for $3,298,755 in 2013 at Sotheby's London 
7th place - Andreas Gursky - 99 cents II, diptych (2001) - sold for $3,346,456 in 2007 at Sotheby's London 
6th place - Jeff Wall - Dead Warriors Speak - sold for $3,666,500 in 2012 at Christie’s New York 
5th place - Gilbert and George - For Her Majesty, collage of photographs (1973) - sold for $3,765,276 in 2008 at Christie's London 
4th place - Cindy Sherman - Untitled Photo No. 96 (1981) - sold for $3,890,500 in 2011 at Christie’s New York 
3rd place - Richard Prince - Spiritual America (1981) - sold for $3,973,000 in 2014 at Christie’s New York
2nd place - Andreas Kursky - Rhine II (1999) - sold for $4,338,500 in 2011 at Christie’s New York 
1st place - Peter Lik - Phantom - The photograph became the most expensive in history and was bought by a collector from Los Angeles for $6,500,000... The first photo at the beginning of the post is a color version of this photograph. But 6.5 million were paid for b/w: 
What can I say – cool!
My most expensive photo sold for $290. And although I consider myself a photographer wildlife, Lady Gaga was in the photo sold :))
What do you think? Are these photos worth the money you paid for them?
Sources: Wikipedia, christies.com, sothebys.com, lik.com
The photograph "Rhein II" by German photographer Andreas Gursky sold on November 8 at Christie's for $4.34 million. This is a new world record price for photography. The previous one was Untitled #96 by photographer Cindy Sherman, which fetched $3.89 million at auction.
The lot description does not explain why this seemingly simple and boring photograph is worth so much money. What can I say, art is art.
Andreas Gursky's calling card is panoramic photography. big size. Since the second half of the 90s, he has been processing them on a computer to achieve better detail and change color scheme. In some cases, unnecessary elements are eliminated from the photograph or new elements are added (photo collage). Initially, photographs are taken with a large format 4x5" camera (frame size 9x12 cm).
Among the most famous works Gursky - photograph "99 cents" (1999). It shows the aisles of a 99 cent supermarket filled with huge amounts of merchandise. The picture amazes with its colors and detail. According to experts, it creates an indescribable impression of “the fetishism of our material world in the post-capitalist landscape."
Effect of bright colors enhanced by the use of a chromogenic color printing method, as well as digital editing: a reflection of the products on the ceiling was added and the color scheme of the products was aligned to enhance the impression of their repetition.
"99 Cents" (2001). Width - 3.36 m, height - 2.07 m
The detail of Gursky's photographs apparently allows you to look at each product in this three-meter painting and look at it for an infinitely long time.
Here is a small fragment of the photo measuring 2790 x 1835 pixels.
Two years after creating his most famous work at that time, Gursky presented a diptych of two photographs under the same title. By the way, it was purchased at Sotheby’s auction in 2007 by Ukrainian millionaire Victor Pinchuk, and then it was a world record for the cost of a photograph. As you can see, this is not the first time Gursky has set such records.
Diptych "99 cents" (2001).
Purchasing works of art is considered good investment money because they are steadily growing in price. The authenticity of the copy is confirmed by the signature of the author.
One more famous work Gursky is a photograph of the Japanese neutrino detector (Kamiokande, 2007). Fifty thousand tons of crystal clean water and more than 11 thousand gold photomultiplier tubes create a fantastic picture, and even in full size you will not immediately notice the figures of two physicists checking the condition of the instrument.
In fact, due to extensive digital processing, Gursky's work cannot be called photographs in the full sense. For example, in the same image “Rhine II”, any traces of industrial intervention in the landscape have been carefully removed in the editor. Thus, the artist constructs his own ideal reality, and thanks to this, his works are no longer sold as photographs, but as works of contemporary art.