An important painting by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is in New York for $54.7 million (around 48 million euros) was auctioned. This was announced by the auction house Sotheby’s.
Two bidders would have a five-minute competition from 1940 gemalte Bild „The Dream (The Bed)“ (The Dream/The Bed) delivered. It was not initially announced who ultimately won the contract.
However, I have that A work by a female artist has never achieved such a high price generated. The previous record for a Kahlo work was 34.9 million, set in 2021 for “Diego y yo” (Diego and I) from 1949.
The most expensive work of art by a woman ever sold at auction was the painting “Jimson Weed / White Flower no.1” by US artist Georgia O’Keeffe, which sold for $44 million in 2014.
“This record result shows how far we have come, not only in our recognition of the genius of Frida Kahlo, but also in the recognition of female artists at the highest level of the market,” said Anna Di Stasi, head of Latin American art at Sotheby’s.
Increase in value by more than 100,000 percent
„The Dream (The Bed)“ war 1980 zuletzt versteigert wordsen – for $51,000, a fraction of the current price. The work shows Kahlo sleeping in a bed that appears to be floating in the sky. Overlaid on the bed is a huge skeleton whose legs are wrapped in dynamite.
© Imago/ZUMA Press Wire/Nancy Kaszerman
The skeleton above the bed doesn’t just exist in the painting: according to Sotheby’s, Frida Kahlo actually had a cardboard object of this type hanging above her bed.
Kahlo, who died in 1954 at the age of 47, “did not entirely agree” with the fact that her work was associated with the Surrealist style, expert Di Stasi has now explained. But “given this great iconography,” it “makes sense to include them in this movement.”
Next record in this year’s auction season
Known for her extravagant style, Kahlo is considered one of the great painters of the 20th century. She is also one of the most important artists in Latin America. In many of her pictures, including numerous self-portraits, she processed personal experiences.
A record had already been set at the beginning of the week at the traditional autumn auctions of the major auction houses in New York: a painting by the Austrian painter Gustav Klimt was auctioned for 236.4 million dollars – making it the second most expensive work ever sold at auction in art history.
Since 2017, the most expensive work of art ever auctioned has been the painting “Salvator Mundi,” attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, which was auctioned in New York for $450.3 million.