The_Auction

 There is a major auction expected in new York tomorrow:

Copilot:

🔑 Key Auction Details

Artist: Frida Kahlo (Mexican, 1907–1954)

Painting: El sueño (La cama) (The Dream / The Bed)

Medium: Oil on canvas, 1940

Auction House: Sotheby’s New York

Date: November 20, 2025

Estimate: $40–60 million

Significance:

Could surpass Georgia O’Keeffe’s Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 ($44.4M, 2014) as the most expensive work by a female artist.

Would also set a new record for Latin American art at auction.

Kahlo’s current record is Diego y yo (1949), sold for $34.9M in 2021.

🌍 Why This Matters

Kahlo’s work blends surrealism with deeply personal themes of pain, resilience, and identity.

Her rising auction prices reflect both her cultural impact and the growing recognition of women artists in the global art market.

This sale is being closely watched because it could redefine the ceiling for female and Latin American artists, placing Kahlo alongside Picasso, Warhol, and Basquiat in terms of market value.

🖼️ Visual Reference

Here are images of Frida Kahlo’s El sueño (La cama), the painting expected to cross the $40M+ threshold at Sotheby’s New York:

                                                                               

translate La Cama...

“La cama” translates directly from Spanish to English as “The bed.”

La = The (feminine definite article)

Cama = Bed (a feminine noun in Spanish)

So when you see El sueño (La cama), the title means “The Dream (The Bed).”

Would you like me to also break down the nuances of the title—how “cama” carries cultural or symbolic weight in Kahlo’s work, beyond just the literal translation?

In what year was this painted, and how old was the artist at the time?

Frida Kahlo painted El sueño (La cama) (The Dream / The Bed) in 1940, when she was 33 years old.**

📌 Breakdown

Year of painting: 1940

Artist’s birthdate: July 6, 1907 (Coyoacán, Mexico)

Age at the time: 1940 − 1907 = 33 years old

🖼️ Context

Kahlo created El sueño (La cama) during a period of intense personal trauma and creative renewal.

The painting depicts her asleep in a four‑poster bed, entwined with vines, while a skeleton wrapped in explosives reclines above her.

It reflects her lifelong preoccupation with mortality, surrealism, and the intimate symbolism of her own body and environment.

🌍 Auction Significance

This work is now at Sotheby’s New York (Nov 20, 2025) with an estimate of $40–60 million, potentially setting a record for both female and Latin American artists.

If it surpasses $44.4 million, it will eclipse Georgia O’Keeffe’s Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 (1932) as the most expensive work by a female artist ever sold at auction.

So, to answer directly: painted in 1940, at age 33.

📌 Key Details

Date: September 17, 1925

Location: Mexico City

Event: A bus collided with an electric trolley car.

Injuries:

Fractured spine (three vertebrae)

Broken collarbone and ribs

Right leg fractured in multiple places

Dislocated shoulder

Pelvis shattered when a steel handrail impaled her abdomen

🌍 Impact on Her Life

Before the accident, Kahlo was studying medicine and planned to become a doctor.

The accident left her bedridden for months and in chronic pain for the rest of her life.

During recovery, she began painting seriously, using a special easel that allowed her to work while lying down.

This event is often described as the turning point that transformed her from a medical student into one of the most iconic artists of the 20th century.

So, to answer directly: the accident happened in 1925, at age 18.

                                                          *     *     *

What makes the image eerie, to my mind, is the bed legs. The ones to the front of the bed are

shorter with respect to the background. One would expect the opposite from a realistic work.

The perspective is from higher up...