A series of photographs by American photographer Irving Penn will appear at auction at Christie’s next month. Included in the sale are a selection of portraits featuring some of the most prominent artists and cultural figures of the 20th century, including Pablo Picasso, sculptor Isamu Noguchi, writer Joan Didion, and artist Salvador Dalí. The portraits will be offered at Christie’s in New York on April 3rd, as part of their spring photography auction, which continues online through the 17th.
“[Irving Penn] is one of the most lauded and influential photographers of the 20th century, with a broad output of striking still-lifes, highly-saturated dye transfer prints that intensify the quotidian, iconic fashion images for Condé Nast, sensitive studies of the people and cultures he encountered all over the world, among other memorable series,” Rebecca Jones, Christie’s head of photography, told Artsy.
Penn is considered one of the icons of 20th-century photography. Born in 1917, he is celebrated for his arresting images, which are pared-back yet elegant. He began his career at Vogue, where he created some of the most iconic portraits, still lifes, and fashion images of our time. He worked primarily in black-and-white and used a series of 19th-century printing techniques, including platinum and palladium printing. Penn’s photographs are included in major institutional collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and the Centre Pompidou.
Penn’s auction record was set in October 2025, when Gingko Leaves, New York (1990) sold for $567,600 at Phillips. The record sale was part of the Phillips “Visual Language: The Art of Irving Penn” auction, which totaled $4.98 million.
“The high esteem for his work continues to be evidenced in the marketplace: a record price for the artist was achieved just last year, and around 80% of the lots by Penn offered last year sold, which is a strong showing considering the high volume of work by the artist that comes to market,” Jones told Artsy. “By presenting a mix of highly recognizable and coveted images, alongside more rarely-seen gems, we expect to generate much enthusiasm for this exceptional offering of works by Irving Penn.”
Highlights in the sale include Penn’s Girl Behind Bottle Jean Patchett, New York (1949); the dye-transfer print Ginkgo Leaves, New York (1990); and portraits of Willem de Kooning, Francis Bacon, Max Ernst, and Dorothea Tanning. In addition to these works by Penn, the sale brings together more than 250 lots spanning the medium.
