Frida Kahlo's Painting sells for $55M, a Record for a Woman Artist at Auction

One of the most psychologically charged and symbolically rich self portraits in Kahlo’s oeuvre, El sueño (La cama) reflects the complex intersection of vulnerability, resilience and creative reinvention that defined this pivotal moment in her life. The work was painted the same year that her former lover Leon Trotsky was assassinated, and in the turbulent aftermath of her divorce, and eventual remarriage, to Diego Rivera.

The painting drew bids from two determined collectors over a gripping 5 minutes before the hammer fell to a client bidding via Sotheby’s specialist Anna Di Stasi, Head of Latin American Art, Sotheby's. The price tonight is over 1000 times the price it made in 1980 ($51,000).

Tonight’s auction marks the first return of El sueño (La cama) to the market in 45 years. Sold at Sotheby’s in 1980, the work subsequently entered the distinguished private collection from which it is now offered. Before that, it was part of a private collection in Mexico City, having been acquired directly from Galería Misrachi, Kahlo and Rivera’s principal dealer.

Over the decades, the painting has been a cornerstone of Kahlo scholarship, featuring her most significant retrospectives and exhibitions around the world. Its return to Sotheby’s tonight during the second night of evening sales at the Breuer follows the white-glove sales of the Leonard A Lauder collection, as well as that of Cindy and Jay Pritzker, which saw Vincent van Gogh's, Piles de romans parisiens et roses dans une verre (Romans parisiens) sell for $62.7M, a record for a still life by van Gogh at auction.

Main Image:Frida Kahlo's, El sueño (La cama), courtesy Sotheby's