Peter Lik Print Sells for $6.5 Million, Shattering Record for Most Expensive Photo

Australian landscape photographer Peter Lik has taken the crown for most expensive photo ever sold. “Phantom,” the picture shown above, was sold to a private collector for a staggering $6.5 million. The record was previously held by Andreas Gursky’s “Rhein II”, which sold for $4.3 million back in 2011.

“Phantom” was captured at Arizona’s Antelope Canyon, a slot canyon that’s popular among landscape photographers, and shows a beam of light resembling a “ghostlike figure” (hence the name). It’s a black-and-white version of a photograph that has also been printed in color with the title, “Ghost.”

Lik also announced that the same buyer purchased two other photographs for $2.4 million and $1.1 million (“Illusion” and “Eternal Moods,” respectively), giving Lik four photos in the list of 20 most expensive photos of all time (he previously sold a separate photo for $1 million back in 2011).