Frida Kahlo self-portrait destroys auction record for work by female artist with $54.7 million Sotheby's sale | Fortune

"The painting of Kahlo asleep in a bed - titled "El sueño (La cama)" or in English, "The Dream (The Bed)" - surpassed the record held by Georgia O'Keeffe's "Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1," which sold for $44.4 million in 2014. The sale at Sotheby's in New York also topped Kahlo's own auction record for a work by a Latin American artist."

"The self-portrait is among the few Kahlo pieces that have remained in private hands outside Mexico, where her body of work has been declared an artistic monument. Her works in both public and private collections within the country cannot be sold abroad or destroyed. The painting comes from a private collection, whose owner has not been disclosed, and is legally eligible for international sale."

Frida Kahlo's 1940 self-portrait 'El sueño (La cama)' sold for $54.7 million at Sotheby's in New York, setting a new auction record for a female artist. The sale eclipsed Georgia O'Keeffe's $44.4 million record and surpassed Kahlo's previous Latin American auction high. The painting is legally eligible for international sale and comes from a private collection outside Mexico. Some art historians raised cultural concerns and worried the work could disappear from public view, though it has been requested for upcoming exhibitions in New York, London and Brussels. The image portrays Kahlo asleep in a floating colonial bed, entangled in vines with a skeleton wrapped in dynamite above. Kahlo began painting during prolonged bedrest after a crippling bus accident and endured multiple surgeries throughout her life.

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