The Flatiron was sold during Part I of Visionary: The Paul G. Allen Collection, which saw a total of 60 works sell for more than $1.5bn. Taken in 1904 and printed in 1905, Steichen’s photograph was estimated to sell for between $2m and $3m.
The photograph, a platinum print over which a layer of gum-bichromate has been added, depicts the landmark New York building at twilight. Its final selling price was $11.84m, making it the second most-expensive photograph ever sold. Man Ray’s Violon d’Ingres, sold at Christie’s in May 2022 for $12.4m, holds the record.
According to Christie’s, the evening was the biggest sale in auction history. Besides Steichen’s photograph, 17 other works sold achieved artist records, including paintings by Georges Seurat, Vincent van Gogh, Diego Rivera, Paul Cezanne, Botticelli and Jan Brueghel the Younger. Les Poseuses, Ensemble (Petite version) by Seurat sold for $149.24m, making it the top lot.
The buyer of the Steichen photograph was not named. As per the wishes of Paul Allen, the late Microsoft co-founder who signed The Giving Pledge, the estate will dedicate all proceeds from the sales to philanthropy. Part II of the auction of Allen’s collection will continue today, 10 November.
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Edward Steichen was born in Bivange, Luxembourg on 27 March 1879, and emigrated to the United States when he was two years old. The turn of the century saw the development of photography, and in 1900, Steichen met the American photographer Alfred Stieglitz. With other photographers, such as Gertrude Käsebier and Alvin Langdon Coburn, they founded the Photo-Secession movement, which worked to raise awareness of art photography and promote the acceptance of photography as a fine art.
Steichen, who became well-known for his portraits, created The Family of Man exhibition for New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1955. The exhibition was added to Unesco’s Memory of the World register in 2003. It has been displayed in museums around the world and is now installed at Clervaux Castle in northern Luxembourg.