Overview

• For the first time in nearly 30 years, the painting will be unveiled to the public in New York on Nov. 8 before the sale, following a tour to London, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong and Paris.
• Sotheby’s set an estimate of $40 million to $60 million, positioning the work to test Kahlo’s $34.9 million auction record from 2021 and the $44.4 million high for a woman artist.
• The 1940 self-portrait depicts Kahlo asleep in a floating bed entwined by thorny tendrils with a skeleton above, an iconography closely tied to her meditations on pain and mortality.
• Julian Dawes of Sotheby’s said the work is among only a handful of Kahlo paintings in private hands outside Mexico, underscoring its scarcity on the open market.
• The Art Newspaper reported a consignment link to collectors Nesuhi and Selma Ertegun, a detail that Sotheby’s has not confirmed.