A self-portrait by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo sold for €47.3 million (approximately $50.3 million) at auction in New York, establishing a new record for a work by a female artist. The 1940 painting, “The Dream (the Bed),” depicts Kahlo asleep in a colonial-style bed suspended in clouds, adorned with symbolic imagery including vines, leaves, and a skeleton.
The record-breaking sale underscores Kahlo’s enduring legacy and the escalating value of works by historically underrepresented artists. While Kahlo’s art frequently commands high prices, this auction marks a significant milestone, reflecting a growing recognition of her contribution to art history and a shift in the art market. The painting’s provenance-having remained largely out of public view since the late 1990s and held in private hands outside of Mexico-added to its allure and drove intense bidding.
“The Dream (the Bed)” portrays Kahlo lying under a golden blanket, a scene inspired by the artist’s lifelong struggles with physical pain and emotional turmoil. kahlo’s life was marked by adversity, including contracting polio as a child and suffering severe injuries in a bus accident at age eighteen, which necessitated numerous surgeries and prolonged periods of bed rest. It was during these periods of convalescence that she began to paint, transforming personal suffering into powerful and evocative self-portraits.
Kahlo’s self-portraits are characterized by their vibrant colors and her distinctive unibrow, a purposeful rejection of conventional beauty standards. The auctioned work is one of the few Kahlo paintings remaining in private collections outside of Mexico. The identity of both the seller and the anonymous buyer remain undisclosed,raising concerns among art historians that the painting may once again become inaccessible to the public.
The sale took place today, November 21, 2025, according to NOS News.
