Frida Kahlo’s painting sold at Sotheby’s auction for a record $54.7 million

The buyer’s identity has not been disclosed

The self-portrait «The Dream» (El sueño) by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo was sold at a Sotheby’s auction in New York for 54.7 million dollars.

This sum set a new record for the highest price ever paid for a painting created by a woman. The identity of the buyer remains undisclosed.

Frida Kahlo’s painting sold at Sotheby’s auction for a record $54.7 million

The canvas, also known as «The Bed» (La cama), was created in 1940 and depicts a self-portrait of Kahlo: the artist shows herself sleeping in a bed, with a skeleton lying atop its canopy. According to Sotheby’s, Frida truly slept beneath a similar canopy decorated with a papier-mâché skeleton.

Frida Kahlo’s painting sold at Sotheby’s auction for a record $54.7 million

El sueño (La cama) surpassed the previous record set by Georgia O’Keeffe’s painting «Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1», which sold in 2014 for 44.4 million dollars. It also exceeded Kahlo’s own previous auction record: until now, her most expensive work had been «Diego and I», sold in 2021 for 34.9 million dollars.

Frida Kahlo’s painting sold at Sotheby’s auction for a record $54.7 million