LONDON (AP) 鈥� face is one of the best known in art, thanks to her bold and challenging self-portraits.
A lesser-seen self-depiction by the is going up for auction at Sotheby鈥檚 in what could be a record-setting sale.
With an estimated price of $40 million to $60 million, 鈥淓l sue帽o (La cama)鈥� 鈥� in English, 鈥淭he Dream (The Bed)鈥� 鈥� may surpass the top price for a work by any female artist when it goes under the hammer on Nov. 20. That record currently stands at $44.4 million, paid at Sotheby鈥檚 in 2014 for Georgia O鈥橩eeffe鈥檚 鈥淛imson Weed/White Flower No. 1.鈥�
The highest price at auction for a Kahlo work is $34.9 million, paid in 2021 for depicting the artist and her husband, . Her paintings are reported to have sold privately for even more.
鈥淚t’s not just one of the more important works by Kahlo, but one of a few that exists outside of Mexico and not in a museum collection,鈥� said Julian Dawes, vice chairman and head of impressionist and modern art for Sotheby鈥檚 Americas. “So as both a work of art and as an opportunity in the market, it could not be more rare and special.鈥�
Kahlo vibrantly and unsparingly depicted herself and events from her life, which was upended by a bus accident at 18. She started to paint while bedridden, underwent a series of painful surgeries on her damaged spine and pelvis, then wore casts until her death in 1954 at age 47.
Painted in 1940, 鈥淓l sue帽o (La cama)鈥� shows the artist, wreathed in vines, lying in a four-poster bed floating in a pale blue sky. A skeleton wired with dynamite and clutching a bouquet of flowers lies atop the canopy.
The image is exploding with symbolism and feels like an allegory 鈥� but the artist really did have a papier-m芒ch茅 skeleton on top of her bed.
Dawes said it’s a psychological self-portrait by an artist at her peak.
鈥淗er greatest works derive from this moment between the late 1930s and the early 1940s,鈥� he said. 鈥淪he has had a variety of tribulations in her romantic life with Diego, in her own life with her health, but at the same time she鈥檚 really at the height of her powers.鈥�
Last exhibited publicly in the late 1990s, the painting is the star of a sale of more than 100 surrealist works by artists including Salvador Dal铆, Ren茅 Magritte, Max Ernst and Dorothea Tanning. They are from a private collection whose owner has not been disclosed.
A century after Andre Breton鈥檚 鈥淪urrealist Manifesto鈥� defined a revolutionary artistic movement characterized by unsettling juxtapositions and paradoxical statements, interest in 鈥� and prices for 鈥� surrealist art are booming. Surrealism鈥檚 share of the art market rose from 9.3% to 16.8% between 2018 and 2024, according to Sotheby鈥檚. sold last year for $121.2 million, a record for a surrealist work.
Kahlo resisted being labeled a surrealist, but Dawes said her 鈥渇ascination with the subconscious鈥� and use of otherworldly imagery place her squarely in that tradition.
He said it鈥檚 no surprise the genre is undergoing a resurgence.
鈥淭here are so many interesting parallels between the 1920s and the 2020s,鈥� Dawes said. 鈥淐oming out of a crippling global pandemic, a world that has to confront war on a more graphic and intimate level that had ever been experienced before 鈥� and economic and political and social forces swirling in the background that are eerily similar.鈥�
The Kahlo painting is on show at Sotheby鈥檚 in London until Tuesday, and then tours to Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong and Paris before the sale in New York.
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