List of photographs considered the most important

This is a list of photographs considered the most important in surveys where authoritative sources review the history of the medium not limited by time period, region, genre, topic, or other specific criteria. These images may be referred to as the most important, most iconic, or most influential—and are considered key images in the history of photography.

19th century

Before 1850 +ImageTitleDatePhotographerLocationFormatNotesCited survey(s)View from the Window at Le Gras ()1827Nicéphore NiépceSaint-Loup-de-Varennes, FranceBitumen-coated pewter plateConsidered the oldest surviving camera photograph.Windows from Inside South GalleryAugust 1835William Henry Fox TalbotLacock, England, United KingdomPhotogenic drawing negativeThe earliest surviving photographic negative and the earliest surviving paper photograph.The Artist's Studio1837Louis DaguerreParis, FranceDaguerreotypeBoulevard du Temple1838Louis DaguerreParis, FranceDaguerreotypeThe earliest surviving photograph depicting people: a person working as a shoeshiner and an individual having his shoes shined.Self‐Portrait as a Drowned Man18 October 1840Hippolyte BayardParis, FranceDirect PositivePossibly the earliest known staged photograph, created in protest to the French government's apparent neglect of the invention of his photographic process.The Haystack1844William Henry Fox TalbotLacock, England, United KingdomCalotypeA photograph that appeared in The Pencil of Nature, the first photographically illustrated book to be commercially published.Glasgow University Library, Special Collections Department. Book of the month. February 2007. William Henry Fox Talbot. The Pencil of Nature. Retrieved 6 October 2008.

1850s ImageTitleDatePhotographerLocationFormatNotesCited survey(s)The Mime Charles Deburau as Pierrot1854NadarParis, FranceSalt printThe photograph is part of a series taken during the 1850s.The Cook House of the 8th HussarsApril 1855Roger FentonCrimeaSalt printValley of the Shadow of Death23 April 1855Roger FentonSevastopol, CrimeaWet collodion negativeFenton's pictures during the Crimean War were one of the first cases of war photography, with Valley of the Shadow of Death considered "the most eloquent metaphor of warfare" by The Oxford Companion to the Photograph.Sergeant Dawson and his Daughter1855Unknown; attributed to John Jabez Edwin MayallUnknownUnknown (likely albumen print)The Brig1856Gustave Le GrayNormandy, FranceAlbumen printPortrait of Nariakira Shimazu17 September 1857Shiro IchikiSatsuma Domain, JapanDaguerreotypeOldest daguerreotype by a Japanese author;Fuminori Yokoe (, Yokoe Fuminori), "Ichiki Shirō", Nihon shashinka jiten () / 328 Outstanding Japanese Photographers (Kyoto: Tankōsha, 2000; ), p.41. (In Japanese only, despite the English title.) first photo designated an Important Cultural Property by the government of Japan in 1999.Isambard Kingdom Brunel Standing Before the Launching Chains of the Great EasternNovember 1857Robert HowlettLondon, EnglandGlass plateLandmark environmental portraiture and iconography of the Industrial Revolution and 19th century.Two Ways of Life1857Oscar Gustave RejlanderWolverhampton, EnglandAlbumen printLa Vallée de l'Huisne (River Scene)1857Camille SilvyNogent-le-Rotrou, FranceAlbumen printFading Away1858Henry Peach RobinsonWarwickshire, England, United KingdomAlbumen print

1860s ImageTitleDatePhotographerLocationFormatNotesCited survey(s)Abraham Lincoln27 February 1860Mathew BradyNew York City, United StatesGelatin silver printTaken shortly before Lincoln's Cooper Institute speech. Widely used in his campaign during the 1860 presidential election, both Brady's photo and the speech helped him become president.Guardian Angel, One Person Prayingc. 1860UnknownLondon, England, United KingdomAlbumen printBoston, As the Eagle and the Wild Goose See It13 October 1860James Walice BlackBoston, Massachusetts, United StatesGlass plateOldest extant aerial photograph.Cathedral Rock1861Carleton WatkinsYosemite National Park, California, United StatesAlbumen printThe Dead of Antietam1862Alexander GardnerAntietam, Maryland, United StatesLarge-format glass plate Showing the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam—the deadliest single day in the American Civil WarThe Scourged BackMcPherson & OliverBaton Rouge, Louisiana, United StatesAlbumen printOne of the most widely distributed photos of the abolitionist movement.Cartes de VisiteMay - August 1863Andre Adolphe DisderiParis, FranceAlbumen printThe Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter, GettysburgJuly 1863Alexander GardnerGettysburg, Pennsylvania, United StatesLarge-format glass plateSarah Bernhardt1864NadarParis, FranceGlass plateWanted Poster20 April 1865UnknownUnited StatesUnknownBroadside advertising reward for capture of Lincoln assassination conspirators, illustrated with photographic prints of John H. Surratt, John Wilkes Booth, and David E. Herold.Execution of the Lincoln Conspirators at Washington Arsenal7 July 1865Alexander GardnerWashington, D.C., United StatesAlbumen printPortrait of Sir John Herschel1867Julia Margaret CameronHawkhurst, England, United KingdomCarbon printHerschel would later be the godfather to Cameron's firstborn.Call, I Follow, I Follow, Let Me Die!1867Julia Margaret CameronHawkhurst, England, United KingdomCarbon printClose No. 193 High Street1868Thomas AnnanGlasgow, Scotland, United KingdomPhotogravureEast and West Shaking Hands at Laying Last Rail10 May 1869Andrew J. RussellPromontory, Utah, United StatesGlass plateThe ceremony for the driving of the golden spike at Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10, 1869; completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad. Central Pacific Railroad (left), meets Union Pacific Railroad (right) and exchange bottles of water from the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.

1870s ImageTitleDatePhotographerLocationFormatNotesCited survey(s)Old Faithful1870William Henry JacksonYellowstone National Park, Wyoming, United StatesMammoth-format plateGreat Falls of the Yellowstone River1871William Henry JacksonYellowstone National Park, Wyoming, United StatesAlbumen printChicago FireOctober 1871UnknownChicago, Illinois, United StatesUnknownAncient Ruins in the Canyon de Chelly1873Timothy O'SullivanCanyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona, United StatesAlbumen printSteinway Hall2 December 1873UnknownNew York City, United StatesHalftone printSteinway Hall on East 14th Street, between University Place and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The first halftone print of a photo used in a periodical in the United States.Composite Portraits of Criminal Types1877Francis GaltonLondon, England, United KingdomUnknownThe Horse in MotionJune 1878Eadweard MuybridgePalo Alto, California, United StatesComposite from multiple glass platesSeries of cabinet cards regarded as a precursor to motion pictures. Pictured left is the variant Sallie Gardner at a Gallop, which further captured a horse's motion.

1880s ImageTitleDatePhotographerLocationFormatNotesCited survey(s)Street Arabs in the Area of Mulberry Street1880Jacob RiisNew York City, United StatesGelatin silver printWater Rats1886Frank Meadow SutcliffeWhitby, England, United KingdomAlbumen printBandits' Roost, 59 1/2 Mulberry Street1888Jacob RiisMulberry Bend, New York City, United StatesGelatin silver printPart of How the Other Half Lives, an early photojournalist publication pursuing better conditions for the lower class of New York City. The photo and publication's impact was such that they contributed to the crime-ridden Bend's replacement with Columbus Park.Michael Burgan, Exposing Hidden Worlds: How Jacob Riis' Photos Became Tools for Social Reform, Compass Point Books, 2018, pp. 8–9

1890s ImageTitleDatePhotographerLocationFormatNotesCited survey(s)The Hand of Mrs. Wilhelm Röntgen1895Wilhelm Conrad RöntgenWürzburg, Kingdom of Bavaria, GermanyX-rayThe first X-ray, taken by its inventor, featured his wife's hand and ring.Shroud of Turin negative28 May 1898Secondo PiaTurin, ItalyNegativePhotographic negative of an ancient cloth relic that shows details of a scourged and crucified human bodyOtto von Bismarck on His Deathbed30 July 1898Max Priester and Willy WickeFriedrichsruh, German EmpirePhotographPost-mortem photograph of Otto von Bismarck taken shortly after his deathOrgan Player and Singing Girl1898Eugène AtgetParis, FranceGelatin silver printPortrait of Emil Racoviță1899Louis BoutanBanyuls-sur-Mer, FranceGlass plateFirst underwater portrait, and the first taken by a camera designed for underwater photography.

20th century 1900s ImageTitleDatePhotographerLocationFormatNotesCited survey(s)A Sea of Steps1903Frederick H. EvansWells Cathedral, England, United KingdomLarge FormatOne of Evans's finest works in architectural photography.First Flight17 December 1903John T. DanielsKill Devil Hills, North Carolina, United StatesGlass plateCaptured flight of the first airplane, the Wright Flyer, flown by inventors Orville and Wilbur Wright.The Vanishing Race–Navaho1904Edward S. CurtisArizona, United StatesPhotogravureTaken during the cultural assimilation of Native Americans while also popularizing the Vanishing Indian stereotype.The Flatiron1904Edward SteichenNew York City, United StatesBlue-green pigment gum bichromate over platinum printA print of this photograph became the second most expensive photograph ever sold on 9 November 2022, when it sold for $11,840,000, at Christie's New York, well above the estimate of $2,000,000–3,000,000.The Pond—Moonlight1904Edward SteichenMamaroneck, New York, United StatesMultiple gum bichromate print over platinum Pictorialist hand-colored photograph; only three versions exist. In 2006, a print became the most expensive photo sold.An Oasis in the Badlands1905Edward S. CurtisSouth Dakota, United StatesGlass plateBichonnade in Flight1905Jacques Henri LartigueParis, FranceGelatin silver printSan Francisco Earthquake18 April 1906Arnold GentheSan Francisco, California, United StatesUnknown (likely gelatin silver print)The Steerage1907Alfred StieglitzAboard the SS Kaiser Wilhelm II, possibly anchored at Plymouth, England, United KingdomGlass plateLandmark modernist photo depicting immigrants on the SS Kaiser Wilhelm II.Child Laborer in Newberry, South Carolina Cotton Mill1908Lewis HineNewberry, South Carolina, United StatesGlass platePart of a series by the National Child Labor Committee to have child labor laws passed.The North Pole6 April 1909Robert E. PearyArctic OceanCactus Hot Air Balloon1909Léon GimpelParis, FranceAutochrome

1910s ImageTitleDatePhotographerLocationFormatNotesCited survey(s)Breaker Boys1911Lewis HinePittston, Pennsylvania, United StatesUnknown (likely gelatin silver print)Part of a series by the National Child Labor Committee to have child labor laws passed.Triangle Shirtwaist Fire25 March 1911Brown BrothersNew York City, United StatesThe South Pole14 December 1911Bjorn FinstadSouth Pole, AntarcticaHalftone PrintAmundsen's South Pole expeditionGirl with a Mirror1912Clarence H. WhiteNew York City, United StatesPlatinum print Storyville Portrait1912E.J. BellocqStoryville, New Orleans, Louisiana, United StatesGelatin Silver PrintUne Delage au Grand Prix de l'Automobile Club de France de 19121912Jacques-Henri LartigueDieppe, FranceLarge FormatThis photo depicts , with his riding mechanic.Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney15 January 1913Baron Adolphe de MeyerNew York City, United StatesTrampled by the Kings Horse4 June 1913Arthur BarrettUnited KingdomEmily Davison is struck by King George's horse, Anmer, and knocked unconscious. She died four days later from a fractured skull.Abstraction, Porch Shadows1916Paul StrandSalisbury, Connecticut, United StatesSilver-platinum printPassport of Isadora Duncan1916Copied by Brad TrentUnited StatesBlind Woman, New York1916Paul StrandNew York City, United StatesLarge format camera with trick lens and right-angle mirrorCottingley Fairies1917Elsie WrightCottingley, West Yorkshire, England, United KingdomGlass plateGerman Trenches Near Reims1918Julien BryanReims, France

1920s