"A trademark canvas by Mexican giant Frida Kahlo sold on Thursday night at Sotheby's in New York for $54.7 million, setting a new record for an artwork by a female artist at auction.
An irrevocable bid had been placed for the picture, ensuring that it would sell. With its estimate of $40 million to $60 million, it had been all but certain to eclipse the previous top price for an artwork by a woman on the block. That has been held since 2014 by Georgia O'Keeffe's Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 (1932), which nearly tripled its high estimate to go for $44.4 million back then. (A caveat: Adjusted for inflation, that would be around $61.1 million today.)
The record for a male artist at auction is $450.3 million, which was paid for Leonardo's Salvator Mundi (ca. 1500) in 2017, and more than 20 pieces by men have sold publicly for more than $100 million.
The action lasted just under 5 minutes. Before auctioneer Oliver Barker began, he read a lengthy list of museums that have requested the piece for upcoming exhibitions. That travel schedule could tie up the piece until well into 2028-"a lovely first-class issue," he said.
Barker opened bidding at $22 million, and the piece climbed slowly and steadily as two phone bidders dueled for the work. "Hard to find another one, of course," he quipped at one point. (Truer words were never spoken.)
The winning bid came from Anna Di Stasi, the house's head of Latin American art, who was on the horn with a client: $47 million. With fees, that came to $54.7 million. That's 107,155 percent more than the $51,000 it last sold for in 1980..."