A self-portrait by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo sold at auction on Tuesday (November 16) for a record-breaking $34.9 million, the highest price ever paid for a painting by a Latin American artist.
Completed in 1949, Kahlo’s “Diego y yo” went under the hammer at Sotheby’s in New York and sold to an unidentified buyer for a record $34.9 million, including $3.9 million in fees, the auction house said.
“This is one of the most important works by Kahlo ever to come to auction and we’re thrilled that it should be at Sotheby’s,” said Oliver Barker, a Sotheby’s auctioneer and senior director as he opened the bidding.
Kahlo, who spent long periods bed-ridden after a traffic accident in her youth, was the creator of some 200 paintings, sketches and drawings – mainly self-portraits – in which she transformed her misfortune into works of bold color and emblematic strength.
She attained international fame after her death in 1954, and after the 1970s rose as a feminist icon.
