A self-portrait by renowned Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, depicting herself sleeping beneath a towering skeleton, is poised to become the most expensive artwork ever sold by a female artist. The 1940 painting titled "The Dream (The Bedroom)" is estimated to fetch between $40 and $60 million when it goes under the hammer at Sotheby's on November 20.
The artwork was unveiled Friday at Sotheby's new flagship location in New York, the Breuer Building, a modernist Manhattan structure that previously housed a museum and will reopen to the public starting Saturday. This highly personal self-portrait represents a unique fusion of Mexican folk motifs with European surrealism, according to Anna Di Stasi, Sotheby's specialist in Latin American art.
"She merges folkloric motifs from Mexican culture with European surrealism," Di Stasi explained to AFP. The art expert noted that while Kahlo, who died in 1954 at age 47, "wasn't entirely in agreement" with having her work associated with the Surrealist movement, "given this magnificent iconography, it seems quite relevant to include her" in that artistic current.
The massive skeleton depicted hovering above the bed in the painting wasn't merely artistic imagination – Kahlo actually had such a papier-mâché object suspended above her own bed, according to Sotheby's. This detail underscores the deeply personal nature of the work, reflecting the artist's intimate relationship with mortality and suffering that characterized much of her artistic output.
The current auction record for Kahlo stands at $34.4 million, achieved by another self-portrait from 1949 titled "Diego and I," which sold in New York. However, the overall record for artwork by a female artist belongs to American painter Georgia O'Keeffe, whose 1932 work reached $44.4 million in 2014 – a benchmark that Kahlo's "The Dream" has strong prospects of surpassing.
Friday's presentation at Sotheby's also featured several other masterworks from top-tier artists scheduled for upcoming sales, including pieces by René Magritte and Gustav Klimt. Among the notable lots was an iconic sculpture by provocative Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan titled "America" – a fully functional toilet crafted from solid gold. The starting price for this controversial piece will depend on gold market rates at the time of auction.
The potential record-breaking sale reflects the continuing strength of the art market for works by historically underrepresented artists, particularly female creators whose contributions are increasingly recognized and valued by collectors worldwide. If successful, the sale would mark a significant milestone in establishing market recognition for women artists' contributions to art history.
