Frida Kahlo Painting Break Records at Auction
'El sueno' became the most valuable work by a woman artist ever sold at auction.
'El sueno' became the most valuable work by a woman artist ever sold at auction.Frida Kahlo's self-portrait "El Sueno," or "The Dream," set a new record at Sotheby's on Thursday by becoming the most expensive work by a female artist ever auctioned.
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The 1940 painting, showing Kahlo asleep in a bed floating among clouds, sold for for $54.7 million (€47 million), surpassing the $44.4 million paid at Sotheby's in 2014 for Georgia O'Keeffe's "Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1."
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The piece was one of the few Kahlo works still in private hands outside Mexico, where her art is protected as a national monument.
Works within Mexico cannot be sold abroad. This painting, from an undisclosed private collection, was legally eligible for international sale.
Prices for Frida Kahlo's works have risen steadily
'El sueno' was painted during a turning point in Kahlo's life, shaped by health problems from an earlier illness and accident and the upheaval of her divorce and remarriage to Diego Rivera in 1940.
She contracted polio at the age of 6 and was injured so severely in a streetcar accident at 18 that she had to wear steel and leather corsets for the rest of her life.
Confined to bed after the accident, Frida Kahlo began painting to pass the time. It was the beginning of an unprecedented career that made her Mexico's most famous artist.
A painting depicting Kahlo and her husband sold in 2021 for $34.9 million, the previous highest price paid for her work.
More to follow
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 21, 2025 06:20 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).