Frida Kahlo’s ‘Diego y yo’ sells at auction for a record $34.9 million

Frida Kahlo’s 1949 self portrait sold for $34.9 million at Sotheby’s Modern Evening Sale in New York on Tuesday night, setting a new record for Latin American art. 

“Diego y yo” was painted five years before her death and is considered to be Kahlo’s last self-portrait. It features a smaller portrait of her husband Diego Rivera on her forehead above her signature unibrow. His presence and her teary eyes speak to her volatile marriage with Rivera, who was also a prolific Mexican painter. Rivera had an affair with Kahlo’s friend María Félix, a Mexican actress and singer, that same year. 

Her portrait overtakes Rivera’s painting, “The Rivals,” which held the previous record for highest-priced Latin American artwork ever sold at auction. It went for $9.76 million at Christie’s in 2018.

"You could call tonight’s result the ultimate revenge, but in fact, it is the ultimate validation of Kahlo’s extraordinary talent and global appeal," said Anna Di Stasi, Sotheby's director for Latin American Art.

“I think this is very powerful, too, because it’s not even one of her most famous works,” said Natalia Zerbato, an art historian and Kahlo expert at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. “I think if you use just the numbers to talk about how important Frida’s work is, it looks very important and very marketable.”

The 11.7- by 8.8-inch oil painting was purchased by the collection of Argentine real estate developer and philanthropist Edward Constantini. Constatini founded MALBA, the Museum of Latin American Art in Buenos Aires, with a commitment to supporting and preserving Latin American art. 

The works of both Kahlo and Rivera have been deemed “artistic monuments” by the government of Mexico, a legal status that prevents their sale in the country.