TIME

MOST INFLUENTIAL PHOTOS

WE SET OUT TO FIND IMAGES THAT CHANGED THE WORLD. ALONG THE WAY, WE UNEARTHED INCREDIBLE STORIES OF HOW THEY WERE MADE
Twelve of the 26 negatives Philippe Halsman took to create Dalí Atomicus

WE BEGAN THIS PROJECT WITH WHAT SEEMED LIKE A straightforward idea: assemble a list of the 100 most influential photographs ever taken. If a picture led to something important, it would be considered for inclusion. From that simple concept flowed countless decisions. Although photography is a much younger medium than painting—the first photo is widely considered to date from 1826—the astonishing technological advances since its beginning mean that there are now far more pictures taken on any given day than

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from TIME

TIME2 min read
A Man In Full, Adapted And Redacted
Tom Wolfe’s A Man in Full is a massive book, in more ways than one. The 742-page social novel about a swaggering Atlanta real estate mogul, which took Wolfe over a decade to write, sold a jaw-dropping 1.4 million hardcover copies after its publicatio
TIME3 min read
Modi-fying India
In April, two Indian writers published an ode to their Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Titled “Forever in Our Hearts,” it recounts his achievements while singing his praises. Such gushing reverence captures the essence of Modi’s popularity at home and
TIME1 min readInternational Relations
Protests Spread
Members of a student protest movement in support of Palestinian civilians link arms on Columbia University’s Manhattan campus on April 18. When the protesters, who called on Columbia to divest from companies that supply weapons to Israel, refused to

Related Books & Audiobooks