Have you ever ever questioned what the costliest images ever offered have been? How about how a lot it introduced at public sale? Most photographers which have ever offered an image and even considered promoting a photograph have contemplated.
Whereas images from all totally different disciplines of images have offered efficiently, if we’re speaking about the costliest picture ever offered, we’re going to be speaking about “high-quality artwork” images.
Wonderful artwork images is usually a unusual and unstable market that may quickly change. Whereas most images promote for what individuals would think about cheap quantities, some inflate to numbers most photographers can solely ever see of their goals.
The worth and ultimate promoting worth of creative {photograph} prints are usually not set by the artist themselves however by the individuals who purchase the images. Most of those sorts of prints are offered at public sale, which is the case for 9 of the ten images on this listing.
As photographers, it will be significant for us to do not forget that these costs are extraordinary and will not be primarily based on the artist’s skills alone. In any other case, it might be simple to be discouraged by seeing the sort of success in such a troublesome market.
Desk of Contents
10 Most Costly Pictures Ever Offered
#1 Peter Lik, Phantom – (?)


Peter Lik took this picture within the space generally known as Antelope Canyon in Arizona, US. The black and white picture offered in 2014 for a whopping $6,5000,000.
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Its place as the costliest {photograph} ever offered is debated as a result of the client was “personal and nameless,” that means the sale couldn’t be verified.
#2 Andreas Gursky, Rhein
II $4,338,500


This picture of the Decrease Rhine river was taken by Andreas Gursky. Within the picture, the river Rhine flows throughout the print with inexperienced fields exhibiting on both facet.
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The sky is overcast which provides a boring and grey tone to the picture. It was the second of a set of six taken by Gursky depicting the Rhine. It’s a chromogenic coloration print that offered for $4,338,500 in 2011.
#3 Richard Prince, Religious
America $3,973,000
This picture additionally comes with its justifiable share of controversy. The picture is of a unadorned ten-year-old little one posing in a tub. The kid is an American actress and mannequin, Brooke Shields.
The nudity of a kid in {a photograph} was not accepted nicely by among the artwork world members, and the picture was lastly faraway from the exhibition at Tate Fashionable after a stern warning from the police.


The picture offered at Christie’s Public sale Home in
New York in 2014 for $3,973,000
#4 Cindy Sherman, Untitled
96 $3,890,500


Untitled 96 is a self-portrait that includes a younger Cindy Sherman wearing “retro” fashion clothes. She is mendacity on the ground and her gaze if fastened off digital camera. The orange hue of the picture from the darkish and lightweight orange colours of her clothes provides the picture a sure overtone.
The picture was taken in 1981 and offered for $3,890,500 in 2011.
#5 Gilbert & George, To
Her Majesty $3,765,276


This work by British artists Gilbert Prousch and George Passmore, recognized collectively as Gilbert & George, is a gelatin silver print that was offered in London for $3,765,276 in 2008.
#6 Jeff Wall, Lifeless
Troops Speak $3,666,500


Formally titled “Lifeless Troops Speak (A Imaginative and prescient After an Ambush of a Crimson Military Patro Close to Moquor, Afghanistan, Winter 1986),” this picture was a staged and digitally stitched work by Jeff Wall in 1992. The fashions have been shot in a studio after which digitally positioned onto the out of doors panorama.
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The picture offered for $3,666,500 in 2012. The picture is transparency in lightbox.
#7 Andreas Gursky, 99
Cent II Diptychon $3,346,456


Andreas Gursky’s 99 Cent II Diptychon is a chromogenic coloration print that was styled as a diptych. The image could be very massive, spanning over 11 toes huge and practically 6 toes tall. The scene is that of a 99-cent retailer in Los Angeles. Gursky makes use of the semi-symmetrical line and colourful packaging on the cabinets to create a high-contrast picture that may catch anybody’s eye.
It offered in London in 2007 for $3,346,456.
#8 Andreas Gursky, Chicago
Board of Commerce II $3,298,755


Right here we have now one other chromogenic coloration print by Andreas Gursky, Chicago Board of Commerce. Gursky captured this picture on the Board of Commerce in Chicago, Illinois, the US, in 1999.
The image was taken from above, wanting down into “the pit,” and exhibits brokers shifting shortly whereas carrying their bright-colored jackets. Gursky used digital enhancing to layer a number of exposures of the picture to create the “blurred” look of the motion you possibly can see across the brokers.
Chicago Board of Commerce II offered for $3,298,755 in June of 2013.
#9 Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy) $3,077,000


This picture is definitely a photograph of a photograph. Deemed “rephotography” by its artist Richard Prince, the fashion ultimately helped to form an artwork type of its personal, usually known as “images of images.” This specific scene depicts the “Marlboro Man” and was taken of an advert in Time journal.
Prince was sued by the unique photographer for utilizing a copyrighted picture, however the decide dominated in Prince’s favor.
The image was an ektacolour print, and it offered at Sotheby’s New York in 2014 for $3,077,000.
#10 Cindy Sherman, Untitled
Movie Nonetheless 48 $2,965,000


Untitled Movie Nonetheless #48 by Cindy Sherman depicts a lady standing on the facet of a street in a curve with a suitcase sitting beside her. The woman is dealing with away from the digital camera and is wearing a plaid skirt and sneakers, which provides a specific schoolgirl sort of innocence.
This black and white picture has deep distinction and an general darkish, subdued theme, leaving viewers with many questions.
The image is a chromogenic coloration print — this picture offered for $2,965,000 in Might of 2015.
Most Costly Pictures | Conclusion
The 10 costliest images present that individuals are prepared to spend cash on artwork. These images vary in worth from $2.9 million to $6.5 million. Some photographers who took these footage are well-known, comparable to Andreas Gursky and Cindy Sherman. Others will not be as well-known, however their work continues to be extremely valued.