A famous painting by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is expected to sell for up to NZ$106.3 million when it goes to auction on 20 November in New York.
The artwork, El sueño (La cama), or The Dream (The Bed), could become the most expensive painting ever sold by a female or Latin American artist.
The painting has already been displayed in cities like London, Paris, Abu Dhabi and Hong Kong, and is being sold by the well-known auction house Sotheby’s. Its owner has not been named. In Mexico, Kahlo’s art is protected and cannot be sold or destroyed, but since this painting belongs to a private collection abroad, it can be sold internationally.
Kahlo painted The Dream (The Bed) in 1940 after visiting Paris, where she met artists called surrealists. The painting shows a woman sleeping with a skeleton figure above her. Some people think it’s linked to the Day of the Dead, but it’s actually based on a “Judas” figure used in Easter celebrations. Kahlo even kept a similar skeleton above her own bed.
Although Frida Kahlo’s work often seems dreamlike, she didn’t consider herself part of the surrealist movement. She believed surrealism was for the upper class and wanted her art to stay connected to real life and the struggles of ordinary people.
Experts say Kahlo spent much of her life in bed because of health problems, and this painting reflects both her pain and imagination. Art historians are also discussing how such expensive artworks are often hidden from the public after being sold, sometimes ending up in storage for years.
If The Dream sells for the expected price, it will beat the previous record for a female artist, which is held by Georgia O’Keeffe’s Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1, sold for US$44.4 million in 2014. However, the most expensive painting ever remains Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci, which sold for US$450.3 million in 2017.
