Frida Kahlo Self-Portrait Sells for Record-Breaking $55-M

A surrealist painting by famed Mexican artist Frida Kahlo has sold for $54.7 million (£41.8 million), shattering the auction record for an artwork by a woman.

Kahlo, who died in 1954, is widely regarded as one of the greatest painters of the past century and became known for her personal portraits. (Photo: Courtesy)

The painting, from the 1940s, went for more than 1,000 times its original auction price in 1980 after a tense bidding battle between two collectors, according to the auction house Sotheby’s, BBC News reported.

The work — titled El sueño (la cama), which translates to The Dream (The Bed) — depicts Kahlo asleep in a canopy bed beneath a skeleton entwined with dynamite.

The auction broke the previous record for a female artist’s work of $44 million, as well as the highest amount paid for a Kahlo portrait — $34.9 million in 2021.

The self-portrait is one of Kahlo’s “psychologically charged” artworks, Sotheby’s said, and was painted during a turbulent chapter in her life — the year her former lover was assassinated, and shortly after her divorce and remarriage.

Kahlo, who died in 1954, is widely regarded as one of the greatest painters of the past century and became known for her personal portraits. Her work often conveyed her painful relationship with her body, which was disabled by polio in childhood and severe injuries following a bus accident.