A portrait painted by Frida Kahlo when she was 21 years old could fetch US $12 million – or even more – when it goes up for auction later this month at Christie’s auction house in New York City.
“Portrait of Cristina, My Sister” is a simple composition, but it represents an early stage in the iconic Mexican artist’s career when she was eschewing the styles of the masters and embracing techniques and colors that would become her trademarks.
Moreover, it was painted in 1928, not long after the severe accident that left her disabled — a long metal rod tore through her midsection when she was riding in a bus that slammed into a trolley car — and left her confined to bed in a full-body plaster cast, changing the trajectory of her life.
“In 1928, Frida was still recovering from her accident, she was just beginning to make that transition from convalescence at home to finally going out into the outside world again, and Cristina was a very important figure for her during those three years while she was recovering,” said Marysol Nieves, Christie’s Latin American Art specialist.
The painting’s appearance at auction is a rare event. Not only is Kahlo’s body of work limited because she painted very little, but in 1984, all of her works were declared by Mexico to be national artistic monuments — preventing any works in the country from being taken abroad.
“Portrait of Cristina, My Sister” comes from the estate of music mogul Jerry Moss, the co-founder of A&M Records who died in August at age 88. Other paintings from his collection that will be up for auction include works by Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso and Tamara de Lempicka.
The auction will be held Nov. 9-10 at Christie’s in Rockefeller Center, and is expected to generate US $50 million.
Bidding for “Portrait of Cristina, My Sister” is expected to start at US $8 million and go up to US $12 million, but “it seems to us that the estimate is conservative given the importance of this work within Kahlo’s career as an artist,” Nieves said.
Over the past few years, Kahlo’s works have skyrocketed in value. In 2021, her 1949 painting “Diego y yo” (Diego and I) sold for US $34.9 million — a record for a Kahlo painting. (It had previously sold for US $1.4 million in 1990, at that time a record for a Latin American artwork.)
The work is expected to take over second place on the list of what Kahlo paintings have sold for, overtaking “Dos desnudos en un bosque” (Two Nudes in the Forest), which sold for US $8 million in 2016.
BURN IT:
Frida Kahlo (Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderon 1907-1954) was a disgrace to Mexico. She joined the communist party (PCM) in 1948 for communist, socialist and marxist revolution to overthrow Mexico. She was a life long bitter woman that was mentally ill, crippled in a bus accident as a child and had polio that disfigured her body. A double and possible tripple abortionist and adulterer to her husbands in particular husband Rivera with Noguchi. She was a life long cheater. She was treated for sexual diseases namely syphillis. She had fits of rage. She had an affair with the infamous communist Leon Trotsky and was implicated in his murder. She was an alcoholic and a drug addict that tried suicide several times. She hated patriarchal society of Mexico in particular machismo because she was a feminist. She was an anti-Catholic. She liked the dark side of Aztec mythology and put skulls, monkeys and blood in her paintings and ALWAYS painted of HERSELF (estimates of 150-200). She was a LA RAZA racist. She did a portrait with marxist Stalin in 1954. Her husband Rivera tried to promote her but because of her failures of art roll outs in New York City, France and in Mexico she hated all three but especially jealous of USA success. She was a life long financial failure that never made money on her art. She was anti-motherhood in her paintings. She was commissioned by the Mexican government twice for two murals that were so bad they were destroyed. She advocated suicide. Her last drawing was a black angel, her black Angel of Death. It was accompanied by the last words she wrote, “I joyfully await the exit – and I hope never to return – Frida” (“Espero Alegre la Salida – y Espero no Volver jamás”).
How could anyone, anywhere even think about hanging anything of hers on their wall. Disgusting person.
-On the evening of 13 July, Kahlo’s body was taken to the Palacio de Bellas Artes, where it lay in a state under a Communist flag.
Good Riddance…Ladies..Find a “positive roll model”.
Mladinich lll. I think you mean a “positive role model.”
LOL…YES, I DID…LOL.
In case of someone like Frida Kahlo one needs to separate the human from the artistic. Regardless of her personal life. character, indiscretions and values she is an icon of Mexican culture and of the international art world.
If you love the Uni-brow?!?
I guess you might say she invented the “selfie”.
smh
Wow! Someone has a real personal issue with this artist. For someone to take the time to jot down this rant over her perceived “faults” from an obviously prejudiced perspective is astonishing!
“Rant”…I got it from wikipedia…perceived “Facts” you mean….astonishing drama queen.
Prejudiced…OMG…PLEASE PH PLEASE DON’T CALL ME A RACIST…PLEASE…
Quit it.
“Artist”…that is a low bar.
She was a tortured soul, both physically and mentally, with much abuse and disaster heaped on her. That she could create such astonishing art under personal circumstances is a near miracle and a tribute to her spirit and talent.
“Astonishing” again…well, ok, if you say so.
You can buy a copy for $20 bucks and you can hang it on your wall with Che Guevara.
Democrat socialist…always praising marxist communist.
smh
I adore Frida Kahlo. She was a woman ahead of her time. She lived a life of constant pain and suffering. Give the poor woman a break!
You are the problem.
smh