A self-portrait by famed Mexican artist Frida Kahlo sold for $54.7 million in New York, setting a record for the most valuable work by a woman artist ever sold at auction, Sotheby's said on Thursday.
The auction house said two bidders competed in a five-minute bidding war for the 1940 painting "El sueño (La cama)", which translates to "The Dream (The Bed)" and depicts Kahlo lying in bed. The identity of the winning bidder was not immediately disclosed.
The previous record for a work by a female artist at auction was held by US painter Georgia O'Keeffe, whose "Jimson Weed / White Flower No.1" sold for $44 million in 2014. The record for a Kahlo work had been $34.9 million, set in 2021.
"El sueño (La cama)" was last auctioned in 1980 for $51,000 — about one-thousandth of its current price. Anna Di Stasi, head of Latin American art at Sotheby's, said the sale reflected both growing appreciation of Kahlo's genius and the increasing recognition of female artists in the high-end market.
The world-famous artist, who was born in 1907 and died in 1954 at just 47 after a life marked by physical and emotional pain, was best known for her self-portraits.
