List of most expensive photographs

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.

Man Ray's Le Violon d'Ingres, 1924

List

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]

Disputed claim

1. In December 2014, Peter Lik reportedly sold a photograph titled Phantom to an anonymous bidder for $6.5 million, making it potentially the third highest price paid for a photograph.^[32][33][34] Lik's claim has been greeted with much scepticism. Claims of the sale have never been proven, and the buyer has not come forward,^[35] though a lawyer claiming to represent the buyer claims that the deal was real.^[36]

See also

• List of photographs considered the most important
• List of most expensive paintings
• List of most expensive sculptures
• List of most expensive artworks by living artists
• List of most expensive books and manuscripts
• List of most expensive non-fungible tokens