A US artist has caused controversy by selling a blown-up version of someone else's Instagram picture for $US90,000 ($115,000).

Richard Prince used 37 Instagram pictures from other people's accounts to form his exhibition, "New Portraits."

The artist altered the images slightly by adding his own comments to the bottom, but the shots appeared basically the same as in their original form.

The exhibition went on display at the Gagosian Gallery in New York and one of the portraits – posted by a woman called Doe Deere – reportedly sold for $US90,000

In a post to Instagram, Ms Deere - who has 328,000 followers on her public account - said she had not given the artist permission to use her image.

"No, I did not give my permission and yes, the controversial artist Richard Prince put it up anyway,” she wrote. “It's already sold ($90K I've been told) during the VIP preview. No, I'm not gonna go after him. And nope, I have no idea who ended up with it!"

Prince's use of other people's images is reportedly legal.