The art world is poised to witness history as Frida Kahlo's 1940 painting The Dream (The Bed) goes under the hammer at Sotheby's New York, with expectations it could fetch between $40 million and $60 million. This would shatter the existing record for a female artist, currently held by Georgia O'Keeffe's Jimson Weed/White Flower No 1, which sold for $44.4 million in 2014.
The Shadow Over Fridamania
This potential record-breaking sale comes during an unprecedented wave of global 'Fridamania', marked by new museum openings in Mexico City, major exhibitions in Chicago and Shenzhen, and upcoming shows in London and the US. However, this celebratory atmosphere is clouded by serious allegations emerging from Mexico.
Hilda Trujillo Soto, former director of Casa Azul (the Frida Kahlo Museum) from 2002 to 2020, has published a damning report alleging the disappearance of two oil paintings and eight drawings between the museum's 1957 and 2011 inventories. Her five-year independent investigation also identified at least six missing pages from Kahlo's illustrated diary.
"As a Mexican society, we are owed an explanation," Trujillo Soto declared, describing these disappearances as "crimes against the property of the nation."
The Missing Masterpieces
Among the allegedly missing works is Kahlo's 1952 painting Congress of the Peoples for Peace, which was sold by New York's Mary-Anne Martin Fine Art gallery for $2.66 million in 2020. Another work, Self-Portrait Inside a Sunflower from 1954, was reportedly offered by the same gallery with provenance listed simply as "private collection, Dallas". The gallery did not respond to requests for comment.
Berlin-based Kahlo expert Helga Prignitz-Poda has supported Trujillo Soto's findings, stating: "Many things have disappeared from Casa Azul."
The Mexican government's response has been characterised by silence and stonewalling. The Ministry of Culture's Transparency Unit repeatedly deferred to representatives at the state-run Bank of Mexico, which manages Kahlo's trust. These bank officials did not reply to interview requests.
Institutional Resistance and Allegations
The trust has accused Trujillo Soto of holding a grudge, claiming she "never filed a formal complaint" and that her contract was terminated after "irregularities were detected in their administration". Trujillo Soto denies these allegations.
Casa Azul has called the claims "unfounded, erroneous and [lacking] verifiable evidence" but has not provided evidence to demonstrate that the missing works remain in their inventory. Current museum director Perla Labarthe was unresponsive when asked to clarify the situation.
Trujillo Soto sees gender bias in the response: "If I were a man, my report would be seen as an analysis. But I am a woman, so Mexican machismo decides that what I say is gossip instead."
Broader Implications for Art Heritage
The situation highlights tensions in Mexico's art world, where patrimony laws intended to protect national heritage can inadvertently create underground markets. A 2015 analysis found that work by artists on the patrimony list sells for at least half its worldwide value within Mexico due to ownership restrictions.
Retired FBI Art Crime Team investigator Robert Wittman expressed surprise at the lack of alarm from Mexican authorities, especially given the country's recent success with art repatriation. "Mexico should do their due diligence," he stated.
Art lawyer Christopher Marinello noted that reluctance to report missing art can stem from "institutional embarrassment or outright corruption", adding that in Mexico, "we have worked on cases and struggled to obtain police reports only to discover that members of the local police force were the main suspects".
As the art market continues to assign astronomical values to Kahlo's work - with her 1949 self-portrait Diego and I selling for $34.9 million in 2021 - experts warn that high-profile auctions may increase theft risks. Cambridge University researcher Noah Charney explained: "The criminal element doesn't have much imagination. They steal what they've recently read about as having high value."
Seventy years after her death, Frida Kahlo continues to stir uncertainty - though now the uncertainties troubling the art world are of its own making.
