They say a picture is worth 1000 words - or $7.85 million for the mystery buyer of a photograph by Melbourne-born photographer Peter Lik.

Phantom, a photograph of a shaft of light filtered through a canyon in Arizona, reportedly sold for $US6.5 million this week. If true, Lik lays claim to the highest price ever paid for a photograph.

Despite the stronghold his work reportedly has on art buyers, Lik has his detractors, both in the art world and outside of it.

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His work, praised for its beauty and technical proficiency, has been denounced for lacking in artistic concept.

While the sky high selling price of Phantom has been politely described as "bizarre" by art consultant David Hulme, the internet has always been more direct with its criticism:

Still, for every critic there is someone to leap to the defence of the condemned:

Some paid further tribute to the photographer, placing the now famously chiselled, manscaped torso within the landscape he so deftly captured, courtesy of Glenn Hunt:

Even Mr Bean decided to step in to the debate, thanks to Mathew Lynn:

But the best has been saved for last. After all, you can't have a photo called Phantom without an appearance from the Lee Falk's superhero himself, courtesy again of Lynn:

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