21.11.2025 11:21
Frida Kahlo's 1940 self-portrait "El sueño / la cama" (The Dream / The Bed) was sold at auction for $54.7 million. The work has been recorded as the highest-priced piece by a female artist at auction.
The self-portrait of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo has been sold for $54.7 million, making it the highest-priced artwork by a female artist ever recorded at auction.
SOLD FOR A RECORD PRICE
According to CNN, Kahlo's self-portrait titled "El sueno (La cama)," painted in 1940, was sold at a record price at the "Sotheby's" auction house in New York.
Kahlo's portrait, sold for $54.7 million, surpassed the previous record held by American artist Georgia O'Keeffe's "Jimson Weed/White Flower No.1," which sold for $44.4 million in 2014, making it the highest-priced artwork sold by a female artist.
"I HAVE NOT DIED AND I HAVE A REASON TO LIVE"
The painting, which has not been publicly exhibited for nearly 30 years, was displayed in London, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, Paris, and New York before the auction.
In the artwork, Kahlo is seen lying on a bed floating in a pale blue sky. The piece features green ivy wrapping around Kahlo's body, while a skeleton holding a bouquet made of dynamite and flowers of various colors lies on the bed.
The bed is considered a recurring motif in Kahlo's works, as she was confined to bed for a long time due to chronic pain from a bus accident and subsequent surgeries.
During her long recovery process after the accident, Kahlo's family prepared a suitable easel for her, allowing her to paint while lying down.
During this period, Kahlo wrote, "I have not died and I have a reason to live. That reason is to paint."