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—but they are all considered key images in the history of photography.

19th century

Before 1850

Nicéphore Niépce, View from the Window at Le Gras, 1826
Considered the oldest surviving camera photograph

Original
Enhanced

William Henry Fox Talbot, Windows From Inside South Gallery, Lacock Abbey, August 1835
The earliest surviving photographic negative and the earliest surviving paper photograph

Original paper negative
Enhanced positive

Louis Daguerre, Boulevard du Temple, Paris, 3rd arrondissement, 1838
The earliest surviving photograph depicting a person
Hippolyte Bayard, Self‐Portrait as a Drowned Man (Le Noyé), 1840

Original
Enhanced

William Henry Fox Talbot, The Haystack, 1844

1850s

Nadar, The Mime Charles Debureau as Pierrot, 1854

Roger Fenton, The Valley of the Shadow of Death, 1855
John Jabez Edwin Mayall, Sergeant Dawson and his Daughter, 1855
Gustave Le Gray, The Brig, 1856
Robert Howlett, Isambard Kingdom Brunel Standing Before the Launching Chains of the Great Eastern, 1857
Shiro Ichiki, Portrait of Nariakira Shimazu, 1857
Oscar Gustave Rejlander, Two Ways of Life, 1857
Camille Silvy, La Vallée de l'Huisne (River Scene), 1857
Henry Peach Robinson, Fading Away, 1858

1860s

Mathew Brady, Abraham Lincoln, 1860
James Wallace, First Aerial Photograph, 13 October 1860
Carleton Watkins, Cathedral Rock, 1861
Alexander Gardner, The Dead of Antietam, 1862
McAllister & Brothers, Gordon (The Scourged Back), 1863
Alexander Gardner, Execution of the Lincoln Conspirators at Washington Arsenal, 1865
Julia Margaret Cameron, Portrait of Sir John Herschel, 1867
Andrew J. Russell, Beckoning West, 1869

1870s

William Henry Jackson, Lower Yellowstone Falls, 1871
Timothy O'Sullivan, Ancient Ruins in the Canyon de Chelly, 1873
Eadweard Muybridge, The Horse in Motion, 1878

1880s

Frank Meadow Sutcliffe, Water Rats, 1886
Jacob Riis, Bandits' Roost, 59 1/2 Mulberry Street, 1888

1890s

Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, The Hand of Mrs. Wilhelm Röntgen, "Hand with ring", 1895
Clarence H. White, Girl with a Mirror, 1898
Louis Boutan, First Underwater Photo, 1899

20th century

1900s

Frederick Evans, A Sea of Steps (Wells Cathedral), 1903
John T. Daniels, First Flight, 1903
Edward S. Curtis, The Vanishing Race, 1904
Edward Steichen, The Pond—Moonlight, 1904
Alfred Stieglitz, The Steerage, 1907
Passengers on steerage decks on the SS Kaiser Wilhelm II
Lewis Hine, Child Laborer in Newberry, South Carolina Cotton Mill, 1908
Lumière Brothers, Cactus Hot Air Balloon, 1909

1910s

Lewis Hine, Breaker Boys, 1911
Brown Brothers, Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, 1911
E.J. Bellocq, Prostitute, New Orleans, 1912
Jacques-Henri Lartigue, Une Delage au Grand Prix de l'Automobile Club de France de 1912
René Croquet, with his riding mechanic
Paul Strand, Abstraction, Porch Shadows, 1916
Paul Strand, Blind Woman, New York, 1916

1920s

Edward Weston, Armco Steel, 1922
Man Ray, Le Violon d'Ingres (Ingres' Violin), 1924
Rudolf Koppitz, Movement Study, 1926
August Sander, Bricklayer, 1928
August Sander, The Pastry Cook, 1928
Tina Modotti, Woman of Tehuantapec, 1929

1930s

Edward Weston, Pepper No. 30, 1930
Man Ray, Glass Tears, 1930
Miami Police Department, Al Capone Mug Shot, 1931
Erich Salomon, The Hague, 1930
Henri Cartier-Bresson, Place de l'Europe (Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare), 1932
Henri Cartier-Bresson, Brussels, 1932
James VanDerZee, Couple in Raccoon Coats, 1932
Wanda Wulz, Io + gatto (I + Cat), 1932
Lunch atop a Skyscraper, 1932 (Photographer cannot be attributed with certainty – see article)
Alexander Rodchenko, Girl with a Leica, 1934
Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler at a Nazi Party Rally, 1934
Ian Wetherell, Loch Ness Monster, 1934
Madame Yevonde, Lady Milbanke as 'Queen of the Amazons', 1935
Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother, 1936
Florence Owens Thompson, a destitute mother in Great Depression
Margaret Bourke-White, Fort Peck Dam, 1936
Margaret Bourke-White, Fort Peck Dam Liner, 1936
Robert Capa, The Falling Soldier (Death in Spain), 1936
Death of Republican soldier Federico Borrell García in the Spanish Civil War
Herbert List, Goldfish Bowl, 1937
Margaret Bourke-White, The Louisville Flood, 1937
Sam Shere, The Hindenburg Disaster, 6 May 1937
Zeppelin on fire at the mooring mast of Lakehurst
H. S. Wong, Bloody Saturday, 28 August 1937
Baby in bombed-out ruins in Shanghai
Henri Cartier‐Bresson, Sunday on the Banks of the Marne, also known as Juvisy, France, 1938
Horst P. Horst, Mainbocher Corset, 1939
Margaret Bourke-White, Aerial View of Manhattan, 1939
Bill Brandt, The Lambeth Walk, c. 1939
Weegee, Mulberry Street, 1939

1940s

Edward Weston, Tide Pool, 1940
Ansel Adams, The Tetons and the Snake River, 1942
Yousuf Karsh, The Roaring Lion, Winston Churchill, 1941
Ansel Adams, Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, 1 November 1941
Dmitri Baltermants, Grief, 1942
Gordon Parks, Ella Watson (American Gothic), 1942
Frank Powolny, Betty Grable, 1943
George Strock, Three American Soldiers Ambushed on Buna Beach, 1943
Unknown, Jewish Boy Surrenders in Warsaw, 1943
Weegee, The Critic, 1943
Robert Capa, The Magnificent Eleven (collection of 11 photos), 6 June 1944
Robert F. Sargent, Into the Jaws of Death, 6 June 1944
Bernard Hoffman, Atomic Destruction, 1945
Carl Mydans, Return to the Philippines, 1945
Unknown, Inside Buchenwald, 1945
Joe Rosenthal, Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, 23 February 1945
Raising U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima
Yevgeny Khaldei, Raising a Flag over the Reichstag, 2 May 1945
Raising Soviet flag during Battle of Berlin
Lieutenant Charles Levy, Mushroom Cloud Over Nagasaki, 9 August 1945
Alfred Eisenstaedt, V-J Day in Times Square, 14 August 1945
"In New York's Times Square a white-clad girl clutches her purse and skirt as an uninhibited sailor plants his lips squarely on hers"
Margaret Bourke-White, Gandhi at his Spinning Wheel, 1946
Mahatma Gandhi reading beside his spinning wheel
Amit Shabi, Dead Sea Scrolls, 1947
Andreas Feininger, Route 66, 1947
Eric Hosking, Barn Owl with Vole, 1948
Nat Fein, Babe Ruth Bows Out, 1948
Philippe Halsman, Dalí Atomicus, 1948
W. Eugene Smith, Country Doctor, 1948
Leonard McCombe, Career Girl, 1948
Willy Ronis, Provençal Nude, 1949
Ralph Morse, Nuns Watching Television, 1949
Leonard McCombe, Clarence Hailey Long, 1949

1950s

Robert Doisneau, The Kiss at the Hôtel de Ville (Les Amants de l'Hôtel de Ville), 1950
Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling, X-ray diffraction, 1951
X-ray diffraction image providing key to DNA structure
Arthur Sasse, Albert Einstein, 1951
J.R. Eyerman, Trouble in Lakewood, 1952
Dmitri Baltermants, The Announcement of Stalin's Death, 1953
Hy Peskin, Camelot, 1953
Alfred Gregory, Atop Mount Everest, 1953
Matty Zimmerman, Monroe, 1954
Marilyn Monroe's white dress blowing upwards during a shot for a scene in the 1955 film The Seven Year Itch.
David Jackson, Emmett Till, 1955
Richard Avedon, Dovima with Elephants, 1955
Robert Frank, Trolley – New Orleans, 1955
O. Winston Link, Hot Shot Eastbound at Iaeger Drive‐In, 1956
Charles Trainer, The New King, 1956
Harold E. Edgerton, Milk Drop Coronet, 1957
Russell Kirsch, First Digital Photo, 1957
Will Counts, Elizabeth Eckford, 1957
Ansel Adams, Aspens, Northern New Mexico, 1958

1960s

Alberto Korda, Guerrillero Heroico (Che Guevara), 5 March 1960
Che Guevara at funeral for victims of La Coubre explosion
Julius Shulman, Case Study House no. 22, Los Angeles, 1960
Peter Leibing, Leap into Freedom, 15 August 1961
Hans Conrad Schumann, an East German soldier running away over barbed-wire in Berlin
Charles Moore, Birmingham, Alabama, 1963
Malick Sidibè, Nuit de Noël (Happy Club), 1963
Malcolm Browne, The Burning Monk (Thích Quảng Đức self-immolation), 11 June 1963
John F. Kennedy said "No news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one." Malcolm Browne went on to win the 1964 Pulitzer Prize.
NPS, "I Have a Dream", 28 August 1963
Abraham Zapruder, Zapruder film of the John F. Kennedy assassination, 22 November 1963
Robert H. Jackson, Jack Ruby Shoots Lee Harvey Oswald, 24 November 1963
Jack Ruby Shoots Lee Harvey Oswald
Harry Benson, Pillow Fight, 1964
Hugo van Lawick, Jane Goodall Greets Baby Chimp, 1965
Lennart Nilsson, New View of Life, Fetus 18 Weeks, 1965
Neil Leifer, Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston, 1965
Hou Bo, Chairman Mao Swims in the Yangtze, 1966
Larry Burrows, Reaching Out, 1966
Mary Quant, Twiggy, 1966
Bernie Boston, Flower Power, 21 October 1967
D.A. Pennebaker, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, 1967
Eddie Adams, Saigon Execution, 1 February 1968
Ronald L. Haeberle, Massacre of Villagers in My Lai, 16 March 1968
Joseph Louw, Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., 4 April 1968
Bill Eppridge, Assassination of Robert Kennedy, 5 June 1968
Josef Koudelka, Invasion of Prague, 1968
John Dominis, Black Power Salute, Mexico City Olympics, 16 October 1968
William Anders, Earthrise, 24 December 1968
Earth and Moon's surface from Apollo 8
Don McCullin, Albino Boy, Biafra, 1969
Bill Eppridge, Woodstock, 1969
Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin on the Moon, 21 July 1969
Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11 bootprint, 21 July 1969
Unknown, Altamont, 6 December 1969

1970s

John Paul Filo, Kent State Shootings, 1970
Ollie Atkins, Elvis Meets Nixon, 1970
Ron Galella, Windblown Jackie, 1971
Harrison Schmitt, The Blue Marble. Earth from Apollo 17, 1972
Ollie Atkins, Nixon in China, 1972
Huynh Cong "Nick" Ut, Napalm attack, 1972
This image shows a Vietnamese girl (later identified as Phan Thi Kim Phuc) running from napalm.
Kurt Strumpf, Munich Massacre, 1972
Harold E. Edgerton, Bullet Passing through a Candle Flame, 1973
Luis Orlando Lagos, Allende's Last Stand, 1973
Bernd and Hilla Becher, Water‐Towers, 1974
Rolls Press, Nixon Resignation, 1974
Mervyn Bishop, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam Pours Soil into the Hand of Traditional Gurindji Landowner Vincent Lingiari, 1975
Stanley Forman, Fire Escape Collapse, 1975
Sam Nzima, Soweto Uprising (Hector Pieterson), 1976
Viking 1, The Red Planet, 1976
Jim Britt, Sisters, 1976
Eddie Adams, Boat of No Smiles, 1977
Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Stills, 1977–1980
Jahangir Razmi, Firing Squad in Iran, 1979
Robert Mapplethorpe, Brian Ridley and Lyle Heeter, 1979
Susan Meiselas, Molotov Man, 1979

1980s

Annie Leibowitz, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, 1980
Heinz Kluetmeier, Miracle on Ice, 1980
Helmut Newton, Self‐Portrait with Wife and Model, 1981
Patrick Lichfield, Diana with Bridesmaids in Buckingham Palace, 1981
Donna Ferrato, Behind Closed Doors, 1982
Nancy Burson, Androgyny (6 Men + 6 Women), 1982
Co Rentmeester, Michael Jordan, 1984
Steve McCurry, Sharbat Gula, Afghan Girl, 1984
NASA, Hole in the Ozone, 1985
Alon Reininger, Ken Meeks, Patient with AIDS, Being Cared for by a Friend, San Francisco, California, 1986
Andres Serrano, Immersions (Piss Christ), 1987
James L. Stanfield, The First Heart Transplant in Poland, 1987
National Enquirer, Monkey Business, 1987
Walter Iooss Jr., Air Jordan, 1988
Jeff Widener, Tank Man, 1989. Man confronting column of tanks
Richard Prince, Untitled (Cowboy), 1989
Robert Maass, The Wall Falls, 1989

1990s

Therese Frare, The Face of AIDS, 1990
Annie Leibovitz, More Demi Moore, 1991
David Turnley, Operation Desert Storm, 1991
Steve McCurry, Camels in the Oil Fields, 1991
Voyager 1, Pale Blue Dot, 1991
- Part of Voyager's Family Portrait
James Nachtwey, Famine in Somalia, 1992
Jeff Wall, Dead Troops Talk, 1992
Ron Haviv, Bosnia, 1992
Kevin Carter, The Vulture and the Little Girl, 1993
Charles Porter, Oklahoma City Bombing, 1995
Hubble Space Telescope / NASA, Pillars of Creation, 1995
Region of star formation
Dirck Halstead, Bill Clinton hugs Monica Lewinsky, 1996
Charles O'Rear, Bliss, 1996
Philippe Kahn, First Cell-Phone Picture, 1997
Andreas Gursky, 99 Cent II Diptychon, 1999
Carol Guzy, Kosovo Refugees, 1999
Robert Beck, World Cup Winners, 1999

21st century

2000s

Alan Diaz, Elian Gonzalez Federal Raid, 2000
Michael Nichols, Surfing Hippos, 2000
Doug Mills, President George W. Bush Learns of the September 11th Attacks, 2001
Patrick Witty, New Yorkers watch the collapse of the South Tower of the World Trade Center, 2001
Richard Drew, The Falling Man, 2001
Shannon Stapleton, Father Judge, 2001
Thomas E. Franklin, Raising the Flag at Ground Zero, 2001
Marcus Bleasdale, Sakura Lisi, 2004
Sgt. Ivan Frederick, The Hooded Man, 2004
Abdou Hussain Saad Faleh, an Abu Ghraib prisoner, being subjected to torture
Tami Silicio, Coffin Ban, 2004
Chris Hondros, Iraqi Girl, 2005
Eric Gay, Hurricane Katrina Evacuation, 2005
Robert Galbraith, Hurricane Katrina, 2005
David Phillip, Hurricane Katrina, 2005
Todd Heisler, Jim Comes Home, 2005
Brent Stirton, Gorilla in the Congo, 2007
John Moore, Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery, 2007
Louie Favorite, Homecoming, 2007
Oded Bality, The Power of One, 2007
Heinz Kluetmeier, Photo Finish, 2008
Marcio Sanchez, Married at Last, 2008
Win McNamee, The New First Family, 2008
Barbara Davidson, Funeral of Edwin Cobbin, 2009
Marcos Tristao, Diego Frazão Torquato, 2009
Pete Souza, Hair Like Mine, 2009
Unknown, The Death of Neda, 2009

2010s

Kevin Systrom, First Instagram Photo, 2010
Justin Lane, 9/11 Memorial, 2011
Pete Souza, The Situation Room, 2011
President Obama and his national security team in the White House Situation Room
Jessica Hill, Newtown Massacre, 2012
Lucas Jackson, Fashion Week, 2012
Rodrigo Abd, Aida, 2012
Shannon Hicks, Sandy Hook, 2012
AFP, China Social Suicide, 2013
David Guttenfelder, North Korea, 2013
John Tlumacki, Boston Marathon Bombing, 2013
Taslima Akhter, Final Embrace, 2013
Tyler Hicks, Nairobi Mall Attack, 2013
Bradley Cooper, Oscars Selfie, 2014
Bülent Kılıç, Turkey Mine Blast, 2014
UNRWA, Yarmouk Refugees, 2014
Nilufer Demir, Alan Kurdi, 2015
Emin Menguarslan, Turkish Coast Guard Rescue, 2016
Sergio Pitamitz, Climate Change, 2018

2020s

Tayfun Coskun, Capitol Under Attack, 2021

United States Air Force, Out of Afghanistan, 2021