A self-portrait by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, titled "El sueño (La cama)" (The dream (The bed)), sold for $54.7 million (£41.8 million) at auction. This sale established a new record for the highest price paid for an artwork by a female artist at auction.
"El sueño (La cama)" depicts Kahlo asleep in a canopy bed beneath a skeleton entwined with dynamite. Sotheby's described the work as one of Kahlo's most psychologically charged self-portraits, painted during a turbulent chapter in her life, including the year her former lover was assassinated and shortly after her divorce and remarriage.
The auction, held at Sotheby's, saw the painting's value increase more than 1,000 times from its initial auction price of $51,000 in 1980, following a bidding competition between two collectors. This sale also surpassed the previous record for a Kahlo portrait, which was set at $34.9 million in 2021.
The previous record for the highest price paid at auction for a work by a female artist was Georgia O'Keeffe's "Jimson Weed / White Flower No.1," which sold for $44 million in 2014.
Frida Kahlo, who died in 1954, is widely recognized for her personal portraits. Her artwork frequently conveyed her experiences with physical pain, which resulted from childhood polio and severe injuries sustained in a bus accident. In the 1980s, Mexican authorities declared Kahlo's artworks artistic monuments, preventing their export without authorization. This designation makes public market appearances of her works, such as "El sueño (La cama)," uncommon.