Frida Kahlo's Self-Portrait Hits Record Price? Sotheby's to Auction Last Self-Portrait from the 1940s
September 26, 2021
This November, Sotheby's will present Frida Kahlo's 1949 self-portrait, Diego y yo (Diego and I), the last fully realized "bust" self-portrait completed before the artist's death in 1954. Offered as one of the headline lots at the Modern Evening Sale in New York, this historic work is estimated at over $30 million.
Diego y yo is the epitome of Frida Kahlo's unique approach to portraiture. Intense and emotional, this important work by the beloved and renowned artist is poised to break her current auction record of $8 million, achieved in 2016, and could become the most valuable work of Latin American art ever sold at auction. The Modern Evening Sale, formerly the Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale, will inaugurate a major reorganization of Sotheby's General Fine Art evening sale categories, effective this November in New York. (More details will be announced at a later date.) Diego y yo will be on view October 7-11 in Hong Kong and October 22-25 in London, before returning to New York for a pre-sale exhibition in November.
Brooke Lampley, Sotheby's President and Head of Worldwide Fine Art Sales, noted: "Frida Kahlo's emotionally nude and complex portrait, 'Diego y yo,' is a defining work by one of the few artists whose influence extends beyond the world of fine art into pop culture and beyond. The inclusion of this portrait in our November Evening Sale of Modern Art heralds our recent expansion of the Modern Art category, which aims to increase the presence of underrepresented artists, particularly women, and to rethink how they have historically been valued at auction."
Julian Dawes, Sotheby's Co-Head of Impressionist & Modern Art in New York, said: "A Kahlo painting of this quality and excellence is rare at auction. When I look at this painting, the phrase 'abre los ojos', Spanish for 'open your eyes,' immediately comes to mind. Literally, it refers to Kahlo's penetrating gaze as the subject of the portrait (and Rivera's double portrait), but I think it also symbolizes the incredible moment this painting will undoubtedly usher in for Kahlo, as the market opens eyes to Kahlo in a new way and secures her place among the auction elite to which she belongs."
Anna Di Stasi, Sotheby's Director of Latin American Art, commented: "Frida Kahlo is a global icon of contemporary art whose works are beloved worldwide. Diego y yo, embodies the painstaking, detailed renderings, complex iconography and deeply personal narratives that are hallmarks of her mature painting."
FRIDA KAHLO'S DIEGO Y YO (DIEGO AND ME)
Estimated value over $30 million
Modern Evening Sale, November
Offered at auction for the first time in over 30 years, Frida Kahlo's painting "Diego y yo (Diego and I)" (estimated at over $30 million) will be the highlight of November's Sotheby's Modern Evening Sale in New York. This sale will once again be a landmark for Kahlo and Latin American artists, as it was when the painting last sold at Sotheby's in 1990, fetching $1.4 million and making Kahlo the first Latin American artist to achieve over $1 million at auction. This November, "Diego y yo" has the potential to not only set a new auction record for the artist but also become the most valuable Latin American work of art ever sold at auction.
Diego y yo, completed in 1949, is Kahlo's last self-portrait of the 1940s. Kahlo painted "bust" self-portraits throughout her career, with the finest examples created in this decade. They are among her most famous, coveted, and emblematic works. Following her second marriage to the renowned Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, the constantly curious Kahlo synthesized an incredibly diverse range of influences during this period, from Aztec and Eastern mythology to medicine and botany. She also depicted her turbulent experiences of chronic illness and her increasingly complex relationship with Rivera, creating a rich, deeply personal iconography. During this period, she reached the peak of her technical mastery as a painter. In paintings such as Diego y yo, Kahlo clearly draws on the tradition of the "bust" self-portrait popularized during the European Renaissance, employing the motifs and techniques of Renaissance portraiture to establish herself in dialogue with canonical masters such as Albrecht Durer. These richly detailed, expressive self-portraits also dramatically explore contemporary themes of identity and experience, the power of the gaze, ownership of one's image, and a sense of self.
Diego y yo, depicting a distraught Kahlo in an intimate and tightly framed composition, depicts Kahlo wearing the now-iconic huipil, a blouse traditionally worn by women from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (Tehuanas). This particular red huipil is particularly well-known from her extensive collection; she wears it in many of her most recognizable self-portraits from this period, as well as in a renowned series of photographs by Nickolas Muray.
Diego y yo could also be considered a double portrait. Kahlo places a small image of Rivera in the center of her forehead, complete with a third eye, symbolizing the extent to which he occupied her consciousness. This tense and emotionally resonant work alludes to Rivera's relationship with Mexican diva María Félix, whose sensual portrait the muralist also painted in 1949. This relationship was the subject of much gossip, and although Kahlo, who was a good friend of Félix, publicly joked about it, she was deeply hurt. Diego y yo, one of two paintings in which the artist explores the double portrait motif, is the most sensitive and moving. Her loose hair (usually tightly braided) seems almost to suffocate her, her cheeks flushed, and her intense, tearful gaze. Her work is known for this raw emotional power, and the painting captures her inner turmoil and anxiety, poignantly reflected in the three tears flowing from her eyes, reminiscent of the Madonna of Sorrows, an iconic image in the history of Western art. Embracing much more than just her personal story and engaging with existential questions about life, death, and love, Diego y y o speaks to the universal appeal of her work as one of the true titans of 20th-century art.
source: sothebys.com
