'Afghan girl' by Steve McCurry sold at record price on Polish auction

One of the most recognizable photographic portraits “Afghan Girl” taken by Steve McCurry sold for over 283 thousand zlotys(62 thousand EUR) , informed the DESA Unicum , Polish auction house. It is a record price and the most expensive photograph sold at an auction in Poland .

Steve McCurry zrobił zdjęcie Afganki, gdy miała 13 lat. Po kilkunastu latach odnalazł ją i ponownie sfotografował. Na zdjęciu - autor na wystawie swoich prac w Hamburgu, 2013 r.

PAP/Ulrich Perrey

The portrait of the Afghan girl with piercing green eyes, described as the Mona Lisa of the 21^st century, is presented at the “Collector’s Photography” exhibition at DESA Unicum in Warsaw.

The photograph was taken in 1984 , when McCurry arrived at a refugee camp on the Afghan-Pakistani border, employed as a photojournalist for National Geographic .  McCurry took the photo of an eight year old pupil ,Sharbat Gula, in an all-girls Islamic religious school. 

Wrapped in a tattered maroon shawl, she fixes her green gaze at the camera – meeting eyes eventually with millions of people once the picture went on National Geographic‘s June 1985 cover. The photo was not only a breakthrough in present day documentary photography , but also brought about  a renewed interest of the world in the political and economic situation in Afghanistan .

Source PAP, National Geographic