A self-portrait by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo has sold for $54.7 million at Sotheby’s New York, setting a new auction record for a work by a female artist. The 1940 painting, El sueño (La cama) (The Dream (The Bed)), surpassed the previous record of $44.4 million, held by Georgia O’Keeffe’s Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 since 2014.
Anna Di Stasi, Sotheby’s head of Latin American art, described the sale as evidence of “evolving appreciation for both Kahlo’s distinctive artistic vision and the broader recognition of women artists at the premium segment of the art market.” She noted that the painting, which last sold in 1980 for $51,000, has increased in value more than 1,000-fold over four decades.
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The painting shows Kahlo asleep in a floating bed, surrounded by vines, with a skeleton wrapped in dynamite above her. Sotheby’s emphasized that “she never painted dreams” but “painted her own reality,” reflecting the artist’s engagement with personal suffering and identity.
The buyer, who remains anonymous, has already received exhibition requests from major institutions in New York, London, and Brussels. The sale also surpassed Kahlo’s previous record of $34.9 million for Diego and I (1949), highlighting her enduring influence on the art market.