Frida Kahlo’s “El sueño” Auctioned for Up to $60 Million

Frida Kahlo’s painting “El sueño (La cama)” is poised to become a historic sale, with estimates suggesting it could fetch between $40 million and $60 million at auction. Scheduled for November 20, 2023, at Sotheby’s in New York, this sale has captured the attention of art historians and collectors alike. If it reaches the higher end of its estimate, it would break records as the most expensive artwork by any female or Latin American artist.

The auction follows an extensive exhibition tour of the painting, which has been displayed in major cities including London, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, and Paris. According to Helena Chávez Mac Gregor, an art historian at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), “This is a moment of a lot of speculation,” reflecting the heightened interest in Kahlo’s work.

In Mexico, Kahlo’s art is protected under a declaration of artistic monument, preventing the sale or destruction of works within the country. However, “El sueño (La cama)” is eligible for sale internationally as it resides in a private collection outside of Mexico. The identity of the current owner remains undisclosed.

Kahlo created “El sueño (La cama)” in 1940, shortly after her influential trip to Paris where she interacted with surrealist artists. Contrary to popular belief, the skull depicted on the canopy is not a Day of the Dead figure but a Judas effigy. Traditionally used in Easter celebrations, this handmade cardboard figure symbolizes purification and the triumph of good over evil, representing Judas Iscariot’s betrayal of Jesus. The painting features vibrant details, including firecrackers and flowers that adorn the skeleton, a nod to a cardboard figure that Kahlo kept above her own bed.

Chávez Mac Gregor notes that Kahlo’s life was marked by continuous health challenges, stating, “She spent a lot of time in bed waiting for death.” Despite her connections to surrealism, Kahlo distanced herself from the movement. She met André Breton, its founder, in Mexico and had an exhibition organized by him in Paris in 1939. Nevertheless, she viewed surrealism as a bourgeois ideology, maintaining a critical distance from its tenets.

Although “El sueño (La cama)” will be auctioned alongside works by notable surrealists such as Salvador Dalí and René Magritte, Kahlo’s unique perspective and style shine through. Elements of surrealism appear in her art, particularly in the dreamlike themes and explorations of inner worlds, as exemplified by the image of a bed suspended in the sky, with the artist depicted among vines.

The painting has not been exhibited since the 1990s, and its auction could lead to its withdrawal from public view, a fate often faced by high-value artworks. Kahlo’s previous record sale occurred in 2021, when “Diego y yo” sold for $34.9 million. This piece, which features Kahlo and her husband, muralist Diego Rivera, was purchased by Argentine businessman Eduardo Costantini and is currently on display at the Museum of Latin American Art in Buenos Aires.

Cuauhtémoc Medina, an art historian and contemporary art specialist, expressed concern about the commercialization of art, stating that “crazy-priced” acquisitions reduce artworks to mere economic assets. He criticized the trend of purchasing art solely for investment purposes, often resulting in these works being stored in tax-free zones. Medina warned that they risk being neglected, possibly ending up “in a refrigerator at Frankfurt airport for decades to come.”

Kahlo’s upcoming auction is also significant in the broader context of the art market, where the current record for a painting by a female artist is held by Georgia O’Keeffe’s “Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1,” which sold for $44.4 million at Sotheby’s in 2014. Despite this progress, the auction landscape reveals a stark disparity, as no female artist has surpassed the sale prices commanded by their male counterparts. The highest auction price remains at $450.3 million for “Salvator Mundi,” attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, sold by Christie’s in 2017.

As the auction date approaches, the anticipation surrounding “El sueño (La cama)” continues to grow, highlighting both the cultural significance of Kahlo’s work and the complex dynamics of the contemporary art market.