Frida Kahlo’s ‘The Dream’ Set to Break Records at Auction

Frida Kahlo’s renowned painting, “El sueño (La cama)”—translated as “The Dream (The Bed)”—is poised to make history at auction with an estimated price tag of between $40 million and $60 million. Scheduled for auction on November 20, 2023, at Sotheby’s in New York, this sale could position Kahlo as the most valuable female or Latin American artist in auction history.

The painting will first be displayed in major cities including London, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, and Paris before its appearance in New York. According to Mexican art historian Helena Chávez Mac Gregor, a researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the auction has sparked considerable speculation within the art community.

Kahlo’s works are protected under a declaration of artistic monument in Mexico, preventing the sale or destruction of pieces within the country. Yet, this painting, owned by an undisclosed private collector outside Mexico, is legally eligible for international sale. Cuauhtémoc Medina, an art historian and curator, remarked on the peculiarities of Mexico’s modern artistic heritage laws, calling them “very anomalous.”

Created in 1940 after Kahlo’s trip to Paris, “El sueño (La cama)” incorporates elements from her encounters with surrealist artists. While the painting features a skull over the bed’s canopy, it is not a traditional Day of the Dead skeleton but rather a Judas figure, a cardboard effigy symbolizing purification and the triumph of good over evil during Easter traditions. The details in the painting, including firecrackers and flowers, reflect Kahlo’s personal experiences, as she kept a similar cardboard skeleton in her own bedroom.

Kahlo’s complex life, marked by numerous health challenges, is evident in her art. Chávez Mac Gregor notes, “She spent a lot of time in bed waiting for death.” Although she was acquainted with surrealism and had an exhibition organized by André Breton, she did not identify with the movement, viewing it as bourgeois. “Frida always had a critical distance from that,” said Chávez Mac Gregor, despite the identifiable surreal elements in her work.

The upcoming auction is significant not only for its potential record-breaking sale but also because it follows a trend where high-value artworks often disappear from public view after sale. The fate of “El sueño (La cama)” could mirror that of other pieces acquired for exorbitant prices, leaving specialists concerned about art being treated as mere economic assets.

In 2021, Kahlo’s “Diego y yo” (translated as “Diego and I”) set her previous auction record at $34.9 million. The painting was acquired by Argentine businessman Eduardo Costantini and is currently on display at the Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires (Malba).

The current record for a work by a female artist is held by Georgia O’Keeffe, whose “Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1” sold for $44.4 million at Sotheby’s in 2014. Despite these milestones, no female artist has yet surpassed the auction prices achieved by male artists, the highest being $450.3 million for “Salvator Mundi,” attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, at Christie’s in 2017.

Medina expressed concern that the increasing financialization of art reduces its cultural value. “When funds purchase art as mere investments, these works are often relegated to tax-free zones to avoid costs,” he noted. With the potential sale of “El sueño (La cama),” the art world watches closely, aware that its next chapter could unfold far from public appreciation.