For more than 125 years the magazine National Geographic has hosted stunning photographs that look more like works of art and were shot by photographers across the world.

The director of photography, Elizabeth Crist, chose the best ones to be auctioned by the firm “Christie’s” on the Internet.

Among the 11.5 million photographs published up to date, most of them are printed. The magazine’s editors ended up to the 70 best photos that managed to “capture”, as they said, the “magic of life and everyday life,”.

This magic links images that are different from each other, like the one capturing the small seal playing on Canadian shores, the scientist who collects lava from the Etna volcano and the diver who peers into the Russian warship that sank in the early ’80s during the Cold War.

“We chose portraits, landscapes, images of wildlife, but all photos have a common element: the “curiosity” of the photographer” Elizabeth Crist said.

See some of the 70 best photos

A baby seal swimming to the Canadian shores

People enjoying the warm waters of Szechenyi baths in Budapest

Iceland , 2010. Geysers formed in hot springs

Fireworks on July 4th “crashing” on the sky of New York

Coming out from a store in Beijing

Waterfalls of Iceland

An explorer in Australia’s jungle

Lake in Minnesota

Diver who peers into the Russian warship that sank in the early ’80s