A painting by acclaimed Mexican artist Frida Kahlo set a record on Tuesday when it sold for $34.9 million at auction.
The nearly $35 million price tag for the piece, a self-portrait titled “Diego y yo” painted near the end of Kahlo’s life, far exceeded the artist’s previous record of $8 million and set the record for the most expensive sale for a Latin American artist, according to fine arts and luxury auction house Sotheby’s.
The small portrait depicts Kahlo with tears running down her face and a smaller portrait of her husband, artist Diego Rivera, on her forehead. Kahlo completed the painting in 1949 when Rivera was having an affair with her friend, actress Maria Felix. “Diego y yo” is the last “bust” self-portrait Kahlo painted before she died in 1954.
#AuctionUpdate: Frida Kahlo’s 1949 self-portrait ‘Diego y yo (Diego and I)’ soars to $34.9M, smashing the artist’s previous $8 million public auction record. This enigmatic work is Kahlo’s final ‘bust’ self-portrait completed before her death in 1954. pic.twitter.com/NVJZ3c8FOV
— Sotheby’s (@Sothebys) November 17, 2021
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Rivera held the previous record for a Latin American artist with a painting that sold for $10 million in 2018.
Kahlo’s portrait is the second highest-earning painting by a female artist behind a Georgia O’Keeffe painting that sold for $44.4 million in 2014.
