# 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.

## 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 |
| 2 | Edward Steichen | The Flatiron (1904) | $11,800,000 | Nov 10, 2022 | Christie's New York |
| 3 | Andreas Gursky | Rhein II (1999) | $4,338,500 | November 8, 2011 | Christie's New York |
| 4 | Richard Prince | Spiritual America (1981) | $3,973,000 | May 12, 2014 | Christie's New York |
| 5 | Cindy Sherman | Untitled #96 (1981) | $3,890,500 | May 11, 2011 | Christie's New York |
| 6 | Cindy Sherman | Untitled #93 (1981) | $3,861,000 | May 14, 2014 | Sotheby's New York |
| 7 | Gilbert & George | To Her Majesty (1973) | $3,765,276 | June 30, 2008 | Christie's London |
| 8 | Richard Prince | Untitled (Cowboy) (1998) | $3,749,000 | May 12, 2014 | Christie's New York |
| 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 |
| 10 | Richard Prince | Untitled (Cowboy) (2000) | $3,525,000 | May 10, 2016 | Christie's New York |
| 11 | Richard Prince | Untitled (Cowboy) (2001-2002) | $3,401,000 | November 14, 2007 | Sotheby's New York |
| 12 | Andreas Gursky | 99 Cent II Diptychon (2001) | $3,346,456 | February 2007 | Sotheby's London |
| 13 | Andreas Gursky | Chicago Board of Trade III (1999-2009) | $3,298,755 | June 26, 2013 | Sotheby's London |
| 14 | Man Ray | Noire et Blanche (1926) | $3,131,533 | Nov 8, 2017 | Christie's Paris |
| 15 | Richard Prince | Untitled (Cowboy) (2000) | $3,077,000 | May 14, 2014 | Sotheby's New York |
| 16 | Richard Prince | Untitled (Cowboy) (1997) | $3,030,000 | November 9, 2021 | Christie's New York |
| 17 | Cindy Sherman | Untitled Film Still #48 (1979) | $2,965,000 | May 13, 2015 | Christie's New York |
| 18 | Edward Steichen | The Pond—Moonlight (1904) | $2,928,000 | February 2006 | Sotheby's New York |
| 19 | Andreas Gursky | Los Angeles (1998) | $2,900,000 | February 27, 2008 | Sotheby's London |
| 20 | Cindy Sherman | Untitled #96 (1981) | $2,882,500 | May 8, 2012 | Christie's New York |
| 21 | Richard Prince | Untitled (Cowboy) (2000) | $2,840,000 | May 16, 2007 | Christie's New York |
| 22 | Cindy Sherman | Untitled #153 (1985) | $2,770,500 | November 8, 2010 | Phillips de Pury & Co. New York |
| 23 | Andreas Gursky | Chicago Board of Trade (1997) | $2,507,755 | June 23, 2013 | Sotheby's London |
| 24 | Andreas Gursky | 99 Cent II Diptychon (2001) | $2,480,000 | November 16, 2006 | Phillips de Pury & Co. New York |
| 25 | Andreas Gursky | Paris, Montparnasse (1993) | $2,416,475 | October 17, 2013 | Sotheby's London |
| 26 | unknown | Billy the Kid (1879–80) tintype portrait | $2,300,000 | June 2011 | Brian Lebel's Old West Show & Auction |
| 27 | Andreas Gursky | 99 Cent (1999) | $2,256,000 | May 6, 2006 | Sotheby's New York |
| 28 | Andreas Gursky | 99 Cent II Diptychon (2001) | $2,250,000 | May 2006 | Sotheby's London |
| 29 | Cindy Sherman | Untitled Film Still #48 (1979) | $2,225,000 | November 11, 2014 | Sotheby's New York |
| 30 | Man Ray | Portrait of a Tearful Woman (1936) | $2,167,500 | May 17, 2017 | Christie's New York |

## Disputed claim

* 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. Lik's claim has been greeted with much scepticism. Claims of the sale have never been proven, and the buyer has not come forward, though a lawyer claiming to represent the buyer claims that the deal was real.