"The Violin of Ingres" becomes the most expensive photograph in the world

New sales record at Rockefeller Center in New York (United States).

One of the most famous photographs in the world,

, made in 1924 by Man Ray (1890-1976), was sold this Saturday for the sum of 12 million dollars, or 11.9 million euros, reports

.

The work thus exceeds the photographer's previous record with

(1962), sold for 3 million dollars in 2007.

Paintings by Man Ray have sold at auction for as much as $5.8 million, but until this @ChristiesInc sale none of his photographs had ever sold for over $3.1 million.

Now his "Violin d'Ingres" just flew past them all, selling for $12.4m--a new record for any photograph pic.twitter.com/mDT9krXIG6

— Kelly Crow (@KellyCrowWSJ) May 14, 2022

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Le Violon d'Ingres

had been estimated at around 7 million dollars.

The photo was part of a batch of surrealist works, some of which were by Man Ray, Salvador Dali and Gilbert & George.

Two bidders clashed on the telephone for ten minutes in order to win this exceptional print kept by Man Ray in his personal archives until 1962. The photograph previously belonged to Rosalind Gersten Jacobs and Melvin Jacobs, art collectors.

A work “unprecedented on the market”

The print is "unprecedented in the market," said Darius Himes, international photography specialist at Christie's.

Le Violon d'Ingres is considered by art connoisseurs as an emblematic and essential work.

"The scope and influence of this image, at once romantic, mysterious, mischievous and playful, has captured everyone's mind for almost a hundred years", thus analyzed explained Darius Himes before the auction.

For comparison, the previous record for a photograph sold at auction was 4.3 million dollars, or 4.1 million euros.

It was

photographed in 1999 by Andreas Gursky and sold in 2011.

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