Why This Photo of a Potato Sold for More Than $1 Million

— -- A photo of an Irish potato taken by a world-famous visual artist has sold for more than $1 million.

The photo of the potato against a black background was taken by Kevin Abosch, a visual artist who has photographed Malala Yousafza, Yoko Ono and others.

While Abosch usually gets half a million dollars for his portraits, the photograph of the potato stood out to a European businessman who purchased it after seeing it at the artist’s Paris home.

A spokesperson for Abosch confirmed the photograph was sold for 1 million euros, or $1,086,810 U.S. dollars.

The photograph was taken at Abosch's Dublin home. A smaller version of the print is owned by Abosch and an even smaller version is in the Museum of Contemporary Art Novi Sad in Serbia, Abosch's spokesperson said.

Abosch declined to be interviewed by ABC News but said in a statement that he uses the potato “as a proxy for the ontological study of the human experience.”

“I see commonalities between humans and potatoes that speak to our relationship as individuals within a collective species,” he said. “Generally, the life of a harvested potato is violent and taken for granted.”