This is a list of the most expensive photographs by auction price. What makes this ten photographs the most expensive ones in the world, will probably remain forever a mistery .
1. Andreas Gursky, 99 Cent II Diptychon (2001), $3,346,456, February, 2007, Sotheby's London auction. This was the third time the photograph had sold for more than $2 million. It was not only the most expensive photography ever sold, but also almost triplicated the auction record for a contemporary photography. Another print of the same image was sold for $2.25 million in May, 2006, and yet another print had reached $2.48 million just six months later.
2. Edward Steichen, The Pond-Moonlight (1904), $2,928,000, February 2006, Sotheby's New York auction.
3. Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy) (1989), $1,248,000, November 2005, Christie's New York auction.
4. Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey, 113.Athènes, Temple de Jupiter olympien pris de l'est (1842) $922,488, 2003, auction.
5. Gustave Le Gray, The Great Wave, Sete (1857) $838,000, 1999.
6. Robert Mapplethorpe, Andy Warhol (1987) $643,200, 2006.
7. Ansel Adams, Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico (1948) $609,600, Sotheby's New York auction, 2006.
8. Andreas Gursky, Untitled 5 (1997) $559,724, 6 February 2002.
9. Gustave Le Gray, Tree (1855), $513,150, 1999.
10. Diane Arbus, Identical Twins, Roselle, New Jersey, 1967 (1967) $478,400, 27 April 2004.
