"One of the biggest price tags at this year's Art Basel Miami Beach is attached to one of its smallest works. A Frida Kahlo self-portrait measuring 5cm tall is being shown on the stand of Weinstein gallery from San Francisco. Autorretrato en miniatura (miniature self-portrait, around 1938) is the only mini of the 55 known self-portraits by the artist."
"The pocket-sized self-portrait is on sale for $15m, a sharp mark up since Weinstein bought it from Sotheby's New York in 2011, shortly after it failed to sell at an auction for its $800,000 to $1.2m estimate. The work had previously sold at auction in 2000, also at Sotheby's New York, for $225,750. Kahlo's market has risen tremendously in recent years and broke the record for a woman artist at auction last month, with the $54.7m sale of El sueño (La cama) (the dream, the bed, 1940) at Sotheby's New York."
"While the front of the canvas shows the artist sporting her recognisable updo of red flowers and braids, the reverse reveals a more intimate story. Inscribed " Para Bartoli con amor, Mara " (to Bartoli with love, Mara), it is dedicated to one of Kahlo's lovers, the Catalan poet José Bartoli, with whom she had a passionate affair during the final decade of her life. "Kahlo wrote to Bartoli that she painted this work small enough that he could carry her around in his pocket," says Weinstein's founder, Rowland Weinstein. She signed the painting "Mara", a shortened form of Bartoli's name for her, "maravillosa" (marvellous), to avoid detection from her husband, the artist Diego Rivera."
A 5cm Frida Kahlo self-portrait, Autorretrato en miniatura (c.1938), is exhibited by Weinstein gallery at Art Basel Miami Beach and offered for $15m. The miniature is the only mini among the 55 known self-portraits by Kahlo. Weinstein acquired the work from Sotheby's New York in 2011 after it failed to sell at auction against an $800,000–$1.2m estimate; it previously sold at Sotheby's New York in 2000 for $225,750. The reverse of the painting is inscribed to the Catalan poet José Bartoli, and Kahlo signed it "Mara" to avoid detection by Diego Rivera. Prices for female Surrealists and Kahlo's market have risen sharply.
Read at The Art Newspaper - International art news and events
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