1. Andreas Gursky: ” 99 Cent
II Diptychon” , 2001£1,700,000 ($3,346,456)Sotheby’s London , February 2007
The sale of this colorful work was a milestone in the Art market, as it was not only the most expensive photography ever sold, but also almost triplicated the auction record for a contemporary photography.
2. Edward Steichen: ” The pond – moonlight”, 1904
$2,928,000
Sotheby’s New York , February 2006
The 41- 50.8 cm . photograph, which remembers me of Ralph Albert Blakelock’s nightscapes, was previously in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, owner of another of the three copies of the work
3. Richard Prince: ” Untitled (cowboy)”, 1989
$1,248,000
Christie’s New York , November 2005
This modern cowboy is one of the most famous Works by one of the masters of the contemporary photography.
4. Joseph Philibert Girault de Prangey: ” 113 Athènes, Temple de Júpiter “, 1842£500,000 ($922,488)
Christie’s London , May 20th 2003
Girault de Prangey was a French draughtsman and photographer whose works are extremely valuable as they are the earliest surviving visual documents of archaeological places such as Syria or the Acropolis.
5. Gustave Le Gray: ” The Great Wave, Sete”, 1857
$838,000
Sotheby’s London , October 1999
Le Gray is arguably the most important French photographer of the 19th Century. This beautiful work was previously in the Jammes Collection until it was auctioned by Sotheby’s.
6. Robert Mapplethorpe: ” Andy Warhol” 1987
$643,200
Sotheby’s New York , October 2006
American artist Robert Mapplethorpe is one of the key figures in the contemporary photograph, portraying personages such as Patti Smith, Peter Gabriel or Andy Warhol. The work portraying Warhol was created 2 years before Mapplethorpe’s death after complications arising from AIDS .
7. Ansel Adams: Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, 1948$609,600Sotheby’s New York , October 2006
Adams is one of the masters of the 20th century photograph, creator of the “zone system” and famous for his stunning views of the American Southwest.
8. Andreas Gursky: ” Untitled 5” , 1997
$559,724
Christie’s London, February 2002
A typical work by Gursky, depicting a shoe shop. Five years later, another work by Gursky was sold for nearly 6 times the sum paid for this photo.
9. Gustave Le Gray: ” Tree” 1855
$513,500
Sotheby’s New York , October 1999
Second work by Le Gray in this list. The French photographer created a group of Works studying the effects of the light on a tree, and this work is one of the most accomplished.
10. Diane Arbus: ” Identical twins, Roselle , New Jersey”, 1967
$478,400
Sotheby’s New York, April 2004
A strange and almost disturbing photo depicting two young twin sister in almost identical pose, said to inspire the terrible “ghost twins” in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”.
