A self-portrait by renowned Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is expected to shatter auction records when it goes up for sale in New York on November 20. The intimate painting, depicting the artist sleeping in a bed beneath a massive skeleton, is estimated to sell for between $40 million and $60 million, potentially making it the most expensive artwork ever created by a female artist.
The 1940 oil on canvas painting, titled "El sueño (La cama)" or "The Dream (The Bed)" in English, was unveiled Friday at Sotheby's new flagship location in New York's Breuer Building. This modernist Manhattan structure, which previously served as a museum for many years, will reopen to the public starting Saturday. The artwork has already generated significant buzz in the art world ahead of its scheduled auction date.
"The self-portrait created by Frida Kahlo is a very personal image, in which she merges folk motifs from Mexican culture with European surrealism," explained Anna Di Stasi, Sotheby's specialist in South American art, in an interview. Di Stasi noted that while the Mexican artist, who died in 1954 at age 47, didn't entirely agree with having her work associated with the surrealist movement, the magnificent iconography in this piece makes it perfectly relevant to include it in that artistic current.
The large skeleton depicted above the bed in the painting wasn't merely symbolic – according to Sotheby's, Frida Kahlo actually had a papier-mâché object of this nature hanging above her own bed. This detail adds another layer of personal authenticity to the already intimate work, reflecting the artist's unique ability to blend her physical reality with her artistic vision.
Currently, the auction record for a Frida Kahlo work is held by another self-portrait from 1949 titled "Diego and I," which sold for $34.4 million in New York. The overall record for the most expensive artwork by a female artist belongs to American painter Georgia O'Keeffe, whose 1932 work reached $44.4 million in 2014 – a record that Kahlo's "The Dream" could potentially surpass.
Friday's preview at Sotheby's also featured several other works by top-tier artists scheduled for upcoming auctions, including pieces by René Magritte and Gustav Klimt. Among the notable items was an iconic sculpture by provocative Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan titled "America" – a fully functional toilet made of solid gold. The starting price for this controversial piece will depend on the current gold market value at the time of the auction.
