A remarkable painting by the iconic Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is poised to make auction history later this month, with an estimated sale price that could reach a staggering $60 million.
The Painting Set to Redefine the Art Market
The work in question, "El sueño (La cama)" or "The Dream (The Bed)", will be offered for sale by Sotheby's auction house in New York on 20 November. Prior to the sale, the painting will be exhibited to potential buyers in major global art capitals, including London, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, and Paris. If the painting achieves its upper estimate, it will become the most expensive work ever sold at auction by either a female artist or a Latin American artist, shattering existing records.
Art Historians Weigh In on a Masterpiece
Mexican art historian Helena Chávez Mac Gregor, a researcher at UNAM’s Institute of Aesthetic Research, described the current climate as "a moment of a lot of speculation". She noted that Kahlo, who endured a lifetime of illness and physical challenges, "spent a lot of time in bed waiting for death", adding a profound layer of personal context to the artwork.
Painted in 1940 after Kahlo's trip to Paris, the piece features a unique central figure. Contrary to popular belief, the skeleton on the bed's canopy is not a Day of the Dead symbol but a "Judas"—a traditional cardboard effigy filled with firecrackers, representing purification and the triumph of good over evil. This detail was inspired by a real cardboard skeleton that Kahlo kept in her own bed.
A Complex Relationship with Surrealism and the Market
Although the painting is being auctioned alongside works by renowned surrealists like Salvador Dalí and René Magritte, Kahlo herself maintained a critical distance from the movement. A committed communist, she viewed surrealism as bourgeois, despite its founder, André Breton, having been fascinated by her work and organising an exhibition for her in Paris in 1939.
The potential sale has also sparked debate about the art market itself. Art historian and curator Cuauhtémoc Medina lamented the "crazy-priced purchases" that reduce art to a mere economic value. He expressed concern that artworks bought as investments can disappear from public view, sometimes ending up "in a refrigerator at Frankfurt airport for decades" to avoid taxes.
This sale highlights the ongoing disparity in the art world. The current record for a female artist is held by Georgia O’Keeffe, whose work "Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1" sold for $44.4 million in 2014. Kahlo's own previous record was set in 2021 when "Diego y yo" sold for $34.9 million. The upcoming auction of "El sueño" represents a significant moment for the recognition and valuation of work by female and Latin American artists on the global stage.
