Most of us will be aware that paintings can fetch tens, even hundreds of millions of dollars, but digital photos can be just as collectable and demand similar prices at auction.
Collectors will even pay big bucks to own a piece of a photograph: in February 2018, a group of 10 investors paid $1 million between them for a crypto-art photo called The Forever Rose, taken by Kevin Abosch. The Forever Rose isn’t a physical photo, but each investor received a “token” they can keep or sell on.
But $1 million is pocket change compared to the sums paid for the photographs on this list. So let us take you through the 24 most expensive photographs ever sold.
Tobolsk Kremlin (2009)
Current Prime Minister and former President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev claims the final spot in this list of most expensive photos ever sold. His black and white photo of an aerial view of the Tobolsk Kremlin in Siberia fetched $1.75 million at auction, however, some experts say the high price was paid more for charity than for real artistic merit. It was sold at an auction that was part of the fourth annual charity fair Rozhdestvenskaya Azbuka (Christmas Alphabet), to Mikhail Zingarevich.
Red Morning (Hate) 1977
Red Morning (Hate) is part of Gilbert & George’s Red Morning series, which was made in response to the socialist movement in Britain in 1976 and 1977: think punk rock, police and firefighter strikes. It’s the only series of photos the pair produced that sees them ditch their trademark tweed jackets, exposing their shirts. The use of red is to denote aggression and anger and an overall more powerful image than simply black and white.
Pantheon, Rome (1990-1992)
Thomas Struth released a series of images in the early 90s depicting people among famous artworks, called Museum Photographs. The most famous image from the series is this one, of the Pantheon in Rome. In it, a group of visitors can be seen standing in the beam of light coming through the oculus in the top of the Pantheon, yet Struth has deliberately omitted it from the image.
This photo was staged though, with Struth obtaining special permission to shoot after hours, as to take this image during the day with the hundreds of tourists constantly coming through the doors, would have been impossible.
Untitled #96 (1981)
Cindy Sherman took this image of herself in 1981 and eventually sold it to a New York dealer for $3,890,500. The photo is part of Sherman’s Centerfolds series from the same year. The series of photos depicts Sherman in several stereotypical poses of the time, always looking away from the lens and out of frame.
Sherman was responsible for all aspects of the photos, including makeup, hair, lighting, directing, modelling and photographing. The image was sold again in May 2012 for $2.89 million, making it simultaneously the 12th most expensive photo ever sold.
To Her Majesty (1973)
Gilbert & George are Gilbert Prousch from San Martin de Tor, Italy and George Passmore from Plymouth, UK. They are rarely seen in public without the other and nearly always wear suits that became a “uniform” following their Singing Sculptures series. To Her Majesty, is part of the pair’s Drinking Sculptures series and comprises 37 individual images of them getting drunk, or about to start drinking.
At first glance, Jeff Wall’s image looks to be of a genuine war scene, but it has actually been staged in a studio with actors. It depicts Soviet troops coming back to life after being ambushed, some of whom find humor in death, as they can be seen playing with their wounds. The idea behind the image is to combine images of war and horror movies, with those of history paintings from previous eras.
Wall was fascinated by old paintings when he was studying art, but turned to photography for his work as he felt it wasn’t possible for “modern artists to paint like the great masters”.
Untitled (Cowboy) (2000)
Richard Prince produced the Cowboy series of photographs in 2000. As with his other work, this image of a cowboy riding a horse is a photo, of a photo. The original image was used in a Marlboro cigarettes advert Prince saw in a magazine while working at Time Life.
He immediately knew he could change the connotations of the image by removing the text and any association to Marlboro. The resulting image is one of a tough, rugged cowboy that was a symbol of American culture.
Untitled Film Still #48 (1979)
Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills series was made between 1977 and 1980, and this image Untitled #48, is the most expensive one to be sold from it. The series was created to show fictitious female characters in images that could be taken straight from films.
As in her other works, Sherman poses in the image herself and is responsible for all the staging. Untitled Film Still #48 was previously sold in 2014 for $2,225,000, making it the 18th most expensive photograph of all time.
The Pond—Moonlight (1904)
The image of The Pond - Moonlight that sold at auction is only one of three, the other two are held in museums. Each one is unique as it was taken in 1904 using a manual method of applying light-sensitive gums to achieve more than one colour. Because the gums were applied by hand, each image is slightly different to the others.
Forever Rose (2018)
Crypto-art is a form of virtual artwork that is seen to be rare and collectible. Artwork is purchased on the blockchain; a digital ledger that deals with transactions made by Bitcoin or other forms of virtual currency.Kevin Abosch’s Forever Roseis the most expensive piece of virtual artwork ever sold.
