{"id":314682,"date":"2025-11-24T03:20:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T03:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/a-frida-kahlo-painting-just-became-the-most-expensive-work-by-a-female-artist-ever-auctioned\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T03:20:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T03:20:08","slug":"a-frida-kahlo-painting-just-became-the-most-expensive-work-by-a-female-artist-ever-auctioned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=314682","title":{"rendered":"A Frida Kahlo Painting Just Became the Most Expensive Work by a Female Artist Ever Auctioned"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\u201cThe Dream (The Bed),\u201d a self-portrait created in 1940, sold for $54.7 million. The previous record holder, Georgia O\u2019Keeffe\u2019s \u201cJimson Weed\/White Flower No. 1,\u201d went for $44.4 million in 2014<\/h2>\n
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Sonja Anderson<\/a><\/p>\n

– Daily Correspondent<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Dream (The Bed)\u00a0<\/em>was part of a private collection of more than 80 Surrealist paintings auctioned by Sotheby’s.
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A self-portrait by Frida Kahlo just sold for $54.7 million\u2014the highest price ever paid at auction for an artwork by a woman or Latin American artist.<\/p>\n

Kahlo painted El Sue\u00f1o (La Cama)<\/em>, Spanish for The Dream (The Bed)<\/em>, in 1940. It shows her sleeping, blanketed by vines, in a wooden four-poster bed. On top of the bed, a skeleton is wrapped in explosives and holding a bouquet. Ahead of the sale<\/a>, the auction house Sotheby\u2019s predicted that the \u201crare and special\u201d painting would sell for between $40 million and $60 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrida Kahlo occupies a completely singular place in art history,\u201d Anna Di Stasi<\/a>, head of Latin American art at Sotheby\u2019s, tells CNN<\/a>\u2019s Lianne Kolirin in an email. \u201cThere\u2019s an almost spiritual connection people have with her paintings, which are so deeply personal yet at the same time resonate universally.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Dream (The Bed)<\/em>, Frida Kahlo, 1940<\/p>\n

Sotheby’s<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Previously, the most expensive artwork by a woman was Georgia O\u2019Keeffe<\/a>\u2019s 1932 painting Jimson Weed\/White Flower No. 1<\/em><\/a>, which sold for $44.4 million<\/a> in 2014. However, when the price is adjusted for inflation, Jimson Weed<\/em>\u2019s price is $60.5 million in today\u2019s dollars\u2014slightly higher than The Dream (The Bed)<\/em>\u2019s, according to the New York Times<\/em><\/a>\u2019 Zachary Small and Tim F. Schneider.<\/p>\n

Before the November 20 sale, the most expensive piece by Kahlo was Diego and I<\/em><\/a> (1949), a self-portrait showing the face of her husband, Diego Rivera<\/a>, on her own forehead. That artwork sold for $34.9 million in 2021.<\/p>\n

Kahlo was born in 1907<\/a> in Mexico City. Her life was shaped by powerful family relationships<\/a>, romantic toil with Rivera and physical pain following a bus accident when she was a teenager. Of the 143 paintings Kahlo created, 55<\/a> are self-portraits, often portraying the artist alongside animals and nature. In addition to Diego and I<\/em>, some of her more conceptual self-portraits include The<\/em> Two Fridas<\/em><\/a> (1939), which shows two versions of Kahlo, and The Broken Column<\/em><\/a> (1944), which portrays Kahlo\u2019s injured spine as a cracked column.<\/p>\n

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Quick fact: Frida Kahlo\u2019s family home in Mexico City<\/h4>\n

Earlier this year, a museum examining the artist\u2019s personal and family life opened in Casa Roja<\/a>, a house that once belonged to her parents.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Just like in The Dream (The Bed)<\/em>, Kahlo\u2019s real bedroom featured a papier-m\u00e2ch\u00e9 skeleton above the bed. Meanwhile, the explosives suggest \u201cKahlo\u2019s intent to signal a passage between dimensions\u2014between reality and dream, life and death,\u201d the art historian Luis-Mart\u00edn Lozano<\/a>, who wrote about<\/a> the painting for Sotheby\u2019s, explains to the Times.<\/em><\/p>\n

The self-portrait had been \u201cone of very few works of this calibre still in private hands,\u201d Di Stasi tells CNN. \u201cThis painting has all the hallmarks of a signature Frida: the self-portrait, a Surrealist imagery and, most importantly, a psychological intensity and that sense of communion between artist and viewer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Julian Dawes<\/a>, head of Impressionist and modern art at Sotheby\u2019s, organized The Dream (The Bed)<\/em>\u2019s auction. He tells the Times <\/em>that the painting\u2019s price estimate was low because Kahlo isn\u2019t the sole subject of the painting. He\u2019s seen Kahlo self-portraits sell for more than $50 million in private deals.<\/p>\n

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Lot013 N11727 Frida Kahlo, El sue\u00f1o (La cama)<\/p>\n

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