Records beaten at auction for Frida Kahlo and Pierre Soulages
The self-portrait of the legendary Mexican painter “Diego y yo” sold for more than 32 million francs. A painting from the French artist’s red period cost more than 18 million francs.
«Diego and I», by Frida Kahlo.
AFP
Rare paintings by the Mexican Frida Kahlo and the French Pierre Soulages broke the records of these artists at auction at Sotheby’s in New York, where they were sold Tuesday evening for 34.9 million (32.47 million francs) and 20, $ 2 million (18.79 million francs).
As expected, the self-portrait of the legendary Mexican painter “Diego y yo” (“Diego and me”, 1949), one of those in which the face of her husband Diego Rivera appears on his forehead, shattered the old record. by Frida Kahlo ($ 8 million in 2016). It also becomes the most expensive Latin American work of art in history sold at auction, the previous record belonging to a painting by … Diego Rivera, “Los Rivales” (1931), sold for 9.76 million. dollars by Christie’s in 2018.
“Diego y yo”, an oil on Masonite, is emblematic of the self-portraits with an intense and enigmatic gaze which made the Mexican painter, icon of feminism, famous all over the world, who died in 1954 at the age of 47 years.
Red period
But on this one, Diego Rivera’s face appears on Frida’s forehead, above her black eyes, from which a few tears seem to escape. Rivera, who was at the time close to the Mexican actress Maria Felix, is represented with a third eye, a sign of the torments he causes to his wife.
The painting by Pierre Soulages, who had spent more than 30 years in a private collection, corresponds to the red period of the century-old French artist, known for his mastery of black. Sold for $ 20.2 million after a heated battle between several buyers in the Sotheby’s room and on the phone, it greatly exceeds the previous record, reached in 2019 (9.6 million euros in Paris).
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