ART NEWS is reporting that the Frida Kahlo self portrait Diego y yo (1949) could fetch as much as $30 million US ($41 million AUD) in New York during the November 2021 auction. Should the work as expected fetch $30 million—it will be more than three times the artist’s current auction milestone of $8 million, notched in 2016.
The painting depicts the artist gazing tearfully at the viewer; superimposed on her forehead is an image of her husband, the Mexican painter DIEGO RIVERA, who has a third eye. It comes to market after being held privately for 30 years. The descendant of a New York collector is selling it.
Not only is Diego y yo expected to bring a new artist record for Frida, surpassing the price paid for her 1939 painting TWO NUDES IN THE FOREST (THE LAND ITSELF) at Christie’s in 2016, it is also poised to become the most expensive work by a Latin American artist ever sold at auction. The current record is held by Rivera’s painting THE RIVALS, which sold at Christie’s for $9.8 million in 2019.