The 20th century was a tumultuous, revolutionary era, and for the first time in human history, its story was captured not just in words, but on film. These 46 images have become historical artefacts in their own right, after searing themselves into our collective memory. They transport us from the corridors of power where Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin redrew the world map, to the dusty fields of California where a migrant mother’s face became the symbol of a national struggle. In these frames, we witness humanity's greatest triumphs, like the first tentative flight at Kitty Hawk and the giant leap onto the moon, alongside its deepest shames; from the grim faces of child laborers to the ugly jeers of a hateful mob. Each picture is a pivotal moment, a turning point that shaped the world we inhabit today.
#1 Buzz Aldrin On The Moon, Sea Of Tranquility, The Moon, 20 July 1969
Image credits: NASA/Neil A. Armstrong
#2 Student Elizabeth Eckford Is Jeered By Student Hazel Bryan As She Attempts To Enter Little Rock Central High School, Little Rock, Arkansas, United States, 1957
Image credits: Will Counts
#3 Leap Into Freedom, Berlin, Germany, 15 August 1961
Image credits: Peter Leibing
#4 Sir Winston Churchill, Ottawa, Canada, 1941
Image credits: Yousuf Karsh
#5 Raising The Flag On Iwo Jima, Iwo Jima, Japan, 23 February 1945
Image credits: Joe Rosenthal
Photojournalism truly came of age in the 20th century, placing photographers on the front lines of conflict and in the heart of social upheaval. Their cameras bore witness to history as it unfolded, and the resulting images often did more to shape public opinion and define an event than any written account.
#6 Kissing The War Goodbye, New York City, United States, 14 August 1945
Image credits: Victor Jorgensen
#7 Guerrillero Heroico - Che Guevara, Havana, Cuba, 5 March 1960
Image credits: Alberto Korda
#8 Earthrise, The Moon, 24 December 1968
Image credits: NASA/Bill Anders
#9 The Steerage, Aboard The SS Kaiser Wilhelm II, Possibly Anchored At Plymouth, England, United Kingdom, 1907
Image credits: Alfred Stieglitz
#10 A Little Spinner In The Mollohan Mills, South Carolina, United States, 1908
Image credits: Lewis W. Hine
The century’s relentless pace of innovation was a story of stark contrasts, a duality the camera captured perfectly. For every image of humanity reaching for the stars or conquering the skies, there was another documenting the terrifying efficiency of modern warfare and industrial destruction.
#11 Passport Photo Anne Frank, Amsterdam, Netherlands, May 1939
Image credits: Photo Collection Anne Frank House
#12 Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt And Josef Stalin, Yalta Conference, Crimea, February 1945
Image credits: U. S. Signal Corps
#13 Lyndon B. Johnson Taking The Oath Of Office, Dallas, Texas, United States, November 1963
Image credits: Cecil W. Stoughton
#14 First Cell-Phone Picture - Taken By The Inventor Of The First Camera Phone, After His Daughter Sophie's Birth With The First Camera Phone Solution, Protomms, Santa Cruz, California, United States, June 11th, 1997
Image credits: Philippe Kahn
#15 A Sea Of Steps, Wells Cathedral, England, United Kingdom, 1903
Image credits: Frederick H. Evans
More than ever before, the camera became an instrument of social conscience, exposing harsh realities that were often hidden from view. By turning a lens on poverty, child labor, and racial injustice, photographers created irrefutable evidence that fueled movements for change.
#16 Girl With A Mirror, New York City, United States, 1912
Image credits: Clarence H. White
#17 Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California, United States, 1936
Image credits: Dorothea Lange
#18 American Gothic, Washington, D.C., United States, 1942
Image credits: Gordon Parks
#19 Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong Swimming In The Yangtze River In Wuhan, China, 1966
Image credits: Hou Bo
Photography forever altered the nature of political power, bringing world leaders and issues out from behind closed doors and onto a global stage. These images did way more than document diplomatic events. They also crafted public personas and broadcast ideologies, becoming powerful tools of statecraft and propaganda but also to fuel social change.
#20 President Richard Nixon Using Chopsticks During A Chinese Banquet With Premier Chou En-Lai Of The People's Republic Of China, Beijing, China, 26 February 1972
Image credits: Oliver F. Atkins
#21 The Vanishing Race, Nevada, Arizona, United States, 1904
Image credits: Smithsonian Institution
#22 The Pastry Cook, Cologne, Germany, 1928
Image credits: August Sander
#23 First Flight, 120 Feet In 12 Seconds, 10:35 A.m., Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, North Carolina, United States, 1903
Image credits: John T. Daniels
#24 Fire Caused By An Earthquake, 18 April, San Francisco, California, United States, 1906
Image credits: Arnold Genthe
#25 Breaker Boys, Pittston, Pennsylvania, United States, 1911
Image credits: Lewis Hine
Often, the immense story of an era was distilled into the expression on a single human face. A portrait could transform an anonymous individual into a moving symbol, giving a human identity to abstract concepts like economic depression, genocide, persecution, or revolution.
#26 Woman Of Tehuantepec, Tehuantepec, Mexico, 1929
Image credits: Tina Modotti
#27 Albert Einstein Sticks His Tongue, New York City, United States, 1951
Image credits: Arthur Sasse
#28 First Colour Image From Viking Lander 1 Of Mars, Chryse Planitia, Mars, 21 July 1976
Image credits: NASA/Viking 1
#29 The Flatiron, New York City, United States, 1904
Image credits: Edward Steichen
#30 First Color Photos Autochrome Lumiere Auguste Louis, Hot Air Balloons, Paris, France,1914
Image credits: Lumiere Auguste Louis
From the Great Depression to the Civil Rights struggle and the Space Race, the camera chronicled the turbulent journey of what became known as the "American Century." These photographs capture the nation's (and by extension, the world's) profound contradictions and staggering achievements, defining its complex identity in the modern world.
#31 Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, New York City, United States, 1913
Image credits: Adolph de Meyer
#32 Blind Woman, New York City, United States, 1916
Image credits: Paul Strand
#33 Babe Ruth Bows Out, New York City, United States, 13 June 1948
Image credits: Nathaniel Fein
#34 Jacques-Henri Lartigue, Grand Prix Of The Automobile Club Of France, Course At Dieppe, Dieppe, France, 1912
Image credits: Jacques-Henri Lartigue
#35 Monolith, The Face Of Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California, 1927
Image credits: Ansel Adams
Many of these iconic shots are defined by their perfect, fleeting timing, or as the masters called "the decisive moment." In that single shutter click, a complex story of triumph, defiance, or simple human eccentricity is forever frozen, allowing us to study the instant that history was made.
#36 The Pond Moonlight, Mamaroneck, New York, United States, 1904
Image credits: Edward Steichen
#37 An Oasis In The Badlands, South Dakota, United States, 1905
Image credits: Museum of Photographic Arts Collections
#38 Taking Hold Of The Camera At The South Pole, Antarctica, 14th December, 1911
Image credits: National Library of Australia Commons
#39 Armco Steel, Weston Middletown, Ohio, United States, 1922
Image credits: Edward Weston
#40 Charles Lindbergh Arrived At Croydon Field, Surrey, England, 29 May 1927
Image credits: Pacific and Atlantic photos inc.
This era saw photography evolve from a specialist's craft into a ubiquitous part of daily life. The century began with photographers using heavy glass plates and ended with the first grainy image from a cell phone, a technological leap that put the power to document history into the pockets of millions.
#41 The Tetons And The Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, United States, 1942
Image credits: Ansel Adams
#42 Nasa, Explorer VI Satellite, 17000 Miles Above Mexico, 14 August 1959
Image credits: NASA, Explorer VI satellite
#43 Elvis Meets Nixon, Washington, D.C., United States, 21 December 1970
Image credits: Oliver F. Atkins
#44 Cousin “Bichonnade” In Flight, Paris, France, 1905
Image credits: Jacques-Henri Lartigue
#45 Abstraction, Porch Shadows, Salisbury, Connecticut, United States, 1916
Image credits: Paul Strand
#46 German Trenches Near Reims, France, 1917
Image credits: Julien Bryan
