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A haunting 1940 self-portrait by famed Mexican artist Frida Kahlo sold Thursday for US$54.7 million and became the top-selling work by any female artist at an auction.<\/p>\n
The painting of Kahlo asleep in a bed \u2014 titled \u201cEl sueno (La cama)\u201d or in English, \u201cThe Dream (The Bed)\u201d \u2014 surpassed the record held by Georgia O\u2019Keeffe\u2019s \u201cJimson Weed\/White Flower No. 1,\u201d which sold for US$44.4 million in 2014.<\/p>\n
The sale at Sotheby\u2019s in New York also topped Kahlo\u2019s own auction record for a work by a Latin American artist. The 1949 painting \u201cDiego and I,\u201d depicting the artist and her husband, muralist Diego Rivera, went for US$34.9 million in 2021. Her paintings are reported to have sold privately for even more.<\/p>\n
The self-portrait is among the few Kahlo pieces that have remained in private hands outside Mexico, where her body of work has been declared an artistic monument. Her works in both public and private collections within the country cannot be sold abroad or destroyed.<\/p>\n
The painting comes from a private collection, whose owner has not been disclosed, and is legally eligible for international sale. Some art historians have scrutinized the sale for cultural reasons, while others have raised concern that the painting \u2014 last exhibited publicly in the late 1990s \u2014 could again disappear from public view after the auction. It has already been requested for upcoming exhibitions in cities including New York, London and Brussels.<\/p>\n
The buyer\u2019s identity was not disclosed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n