Behold the World's Priciest Photo

It sold for $4.3M this week
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 11, 2011 1:25 PM CST
Behold the World's Priciest Photo
This 1999 photograph provided by Chrisitie's shows the Rhine river by German artist Andreas Gursky. Titled "Rhein II," it was sold for $4.3 million Nov. 8.   (AP Photo/Christie's, Andreas Gursky)

Have you ever gazed upon a river and thought, “This would make a lovely photograph that someone would pay millions of dollars for”? No? Well, that’s why you’re not Andreas Gursky. A chromogenic color print of the Gursky photo below, entitled Rhein II, sold for a whopping $4.3 million at Christie’s in New York this week, the AP reports, making it the most expensive photo ever sold at auction.

With the sale, Gursky reclaims the most-expensive crown from Cindy Sherman, whose Untitled #96 sold for $3.9 million in May, the Huffington Post reports. Before that, the most expensive sale was Gursky’s 99 Cent II Diptychon for almost $3.4 million. Of course, everyone’s a critic; Gizmodo snickers at Rhein II, saying it’s “as bland as it is expensive.” But HuffPo disagrees, declaring, “This photo is meant to be stared at.” (More Andreas Gursky stories.)

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