Frida Kahlo self-portrait sells for $54.7 million, breaking auction record for female artists

"A haunting 1940 self-portrait by famed Mexican artist Frida Kahlo sold Thursday for $54.7 million and became the top-selling work by any female artist at an auction. 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 painting comes from a private collection, whose owner has not been disclosed, and is legally eligible for international sale. Some art historians have scrutinized the sale for cultural reasons, while others have raised concern that the painting - last exhibited publicly in the late 1990s - could again disappear from public view after the auction. It has already been requested for upcoming exhibitions in cities including New York, London and Brussels."

"The piece depicts Kahlo asleep in a wooden, colonial-style bed that floats in the clouds. She is draped in a golden blanket and entangled in crawling vines and leaves. Above the bed lies a skeleton figure wrapped in dynamite. Kahlo vibrantly and unsparingly depicted herself and events from her life, which was upended by a bus accident at 18. She started to paint while bedridden, underwent a series of painful surgeries on her damaged spine and pelvis, then wore casts until her death"

A 1940 self-portrait by Frida Kahlo sold for $54.7 million at Sotheby's in New York, establishing the auction record for any female artist. The painting, titled "El sueño (La cama)" or "The Dream (The Bed)," exceeded Georgia O'Keeffe's previous $44.4 million record and surpassed Kahlo's own Latin American auction high. The work came from a private collection outside Mexico and is legally eligible for international sale. Some historians expressed cultural concerns and fear the painting could disappear from public view after the sale. The buyer remained undisclosed. The image shows Kahlo asleep in a floating colonial bed, entwined with vines and facing a skeleton wrapped in dynamite.

Read at Fast Company