A self-portrait by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo has develop into probably the most invaluable work by a female artist bought at public sale after promoting for $54.7 million.
“El sueño (La cama)” – “The Dream (The Bed)” – grabbed the title at Sotheby’s in New York, after it surpassed the present record held by the late American artist Georgia O’Keeffe. Her “Jimson Weed/White Flower No.1,” which had beforehand hung within the White House, bought for $44.4 million in 2014.
Kahlo’s surrealist self portrait, which was bought by a non-public collector, had been valued at between $40 million and $60 million. Another of the Mexican artist’s self portraits “Diego y yo” (Diego and I) beforehand held the title for second most costly art work bought by a female artist after additionally being auctioned by Sotheby’s, New York, in 2021.
When bought, that portray grew to become the costliest piece of Latin American artwork ever. It’s now been overtaken by Kahlo’s newer sale, and drops all the way down to second place – and third for probably the most invaluable art work by a girl.
Prior to the public sale, the portray, which had not been seen publicly for virtually three a long time, was proven in London, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, Paris and New York.
It sees Kahlo mendacity on a mattress that floats in opposition to the backdrop of a pale blue sky. Curling inexperienced vines envelop her physique, whereas a skeleton wired with dynamite and holding a bouquet of dried flowers lies above her.
The mattress was an everyday motif in Kahlo’s work. She was confined to her mattress for lengthy durations of time as she endured a lifetime of power ache following a near-fatal bus accident and subsequent surgical procedures.
During the lengthy restoration after the accident, Kahlo’s household arrange an tailored easel and fitted a mirror to the cover of the mattress so she might proceed to color whereas mendacity flat. “I am not dead and I have a reason to live. That reason is painting,” she wrote on the time.
Kahlo painted the piece in 1940, which was a turbulent time for the Mexican artist. It was the yr that she remarried Diego Rivera after divorcing the guy artist a yr earlier, and was additionally the yr that her former lover, the Russian revolutionary Leon Trosky, was assassinated.
In an electronic mail to NCS previous to the public sale, Anna Di Stasi, Sotheby’s head of Latin American artwork, stated “El sueño (La cama)” had been “one of very few works of this calibre still in private hands.”
“Frida Kahlo occupies a completely singular place in art history. There’s an almost spiritual connection people have with her paintings, which are so deeply personal yet at the same time resonate universally. We’ve seen it this season while El sueño (La cama) has been on display around the world, with lines out the door,” she stated.
“This 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.”
The portray shaped a part of the non-public assortment public sale “Exquisite Corpus.” It featured greater than 80 surrealist work, drawings and sculptures, together with items by René Magritte and Salvador Dali.