The sale of El sueño (La cama), a self-portrait made by Frida Kahlo in 1940, set a record for the artist but not only. The work was sold Nov. 20 during the Surrealist art auction organized by Sotheby ’s in New York for a total of $54.7 million (47.5 million euros), becoming not only the artist’s most expensive painting ever sold, but also a new all-time record for a Latin American work and for a woman. The result further solidifies Kahlo’s position as one of the most influential and sought-after figures on the 20th-century art scene, beyond the enormous popularity already surrounding her public image.
The final price, achieved through commissions, far exceeds the previous record figure for a work by the artist, set in 2021, again at Sotheby’s in New York, when the painting Diego y yo sold for $34.9 million. On that occasion, the painting had broken the record for the highest sale ever recorded for a work of Latin American art. The new result obtained by El sueño (La cama) thus confirms the market’s growing trend toward women artists and figures related to the Surrealist movement, an interest that in recent years has taken on an intensity never seen before.
The painting had a pre-sale estimate of between $40 million and $60 million, a valuation that hinted from the outset that the work would set a new record for Kahlo. Leading the winning bid was Anna Di Stasi, senior vice president at Sotheby’s and head of the Latin American art department. Di Stasi bid on behalf of a collector connected by telephone, who managed to win the hammer painting for $47 million, to which was then added the total auction fees until the final figure of $54.7 million was reached. The buyer’s identity was not made public by the auction house, a relatively common choice in transactions of this magnitude, where buyer confidentiality is often an integral part of market dynamics.
Despite not being among the most popular works in the eyes of the general public, El sueño (La cama) has considerable critical importance in Kahlo’s production. The painting was analyzed in depth by art historian Whitney Chadwick in her 1985 book Women Artists and the Surrealist Movement, a seminal text that rethought the role of women within Surrealism long before the rewriting of art history became a widespread theme in academic debate. Chadwick pointed out that the work displays a high degree of symbolic complexity: on the bed, above the artist’s sleeping body, appears a skull covered in explosives and connected to wires suggesting an imminent possibility of destruction. According to the scholar’s interpretation, this iconography reflects Kahlo’s deep identification with the Mexican cultural tradition that considers life and death as inseparable elements, a vision that permeated much of her artistic production.
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| World record for Frida Kahlo: her Sueño sold for 54.7 million |
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