Record for Frida Kahlo's 'Dream' at Sotheby's: sold for $55 million

A self-portrait by Frida Kahlo set a new auction record for the Mexican artist, fetching $54.7 million (including auction fees) during the Surrealist art sale at Sotheby's in Manhattan. Four minutes of bidding allowed the painting from 1940, a turbulent year in Kahlo's life, to change hands. It depicts the artist asleep in a four-poster bed, above her a smiling papier-mâché skeleton. The work, entitled El sueño (The Sleep), explores one of Kahlo's recurring obsessions: the fine line between sleep and death.

The auction of confirmed the global interest in Frida Kahlo's paintings after the artist's death in 1954. 'Dream' fetched more than half of Sotheby's initial estimate of between $40m and $60m, and came close to the all-time record for a female artist that still belongs to Georgia O'Keeffe: her 1932 painting Jimson Weed/White Flower No.1 was sold at Sotheby's in 2014 for $44.4m, equivalent to around $60.5m today. The sale highlighted Kahlo's growing stature as a contemporary pop icon and the renewed interest in Surrealism, the most provocative art movement of the 20th century, which is celebrating its centenary this year thanks to a combination of factors: new museum exhibitions, an increasing scholarly output and the reappraisal of the contribution of Surrealist artists, from Dorothea Tanning to Leonora Carrington, Leonor Fini and Gertrude Abercrombie. After three years of decline, the November evening auctions - which close on Friday - gave an encouraging sign for the art market. On Tuesday, Sotheby's totalled $706 million, more than double the equivalent session last year, driven by a record Gustav Klimt portrait, which sold for $236.4 million. Earlier in the week, Christie's had sold works for $690 million, including a vibrant Mark Rothko painting for $62 million.