The Most Expensive Photograph Ever Sold: Rhein II, Andreas Gursky
German visual artist Andreas Gursky captured this expensive photo in 1999. In 2011, a print was auctioned for $4.3 million, making it the most expensive photograph ever sold. The photograph was produced as the second (and largest) of a set of six depicting the River Rhine. In the image, the Rhine flows horizontally across the field of view, between green fields, under an overcast sky. Extraneous details such as dog-walkers and a factory building were removed by the artist via digital editing.