This item has been updated with final sale price and other details after auction closes.

The price achieved by the painting “Diego y yo” (“Diego and me”) more than tripled the previous record of $ 9.8 million, set by a work of Kahlo’s husband – and the inspiration for his painting – Diego Rivera, in 2019.

The auction house behind the sale, Sotheby’s, said in a statement that the award “puts Frida Kahlo center stage among the great titans in art history.” The sum also broke the public auction record for a work by Kahlo of $ 8 million, set in 2016, the auctioneer said.

“Painted the same year her beloved Diego embarked on an affair with her friend, Mexican golden age actress (actress) Maria Felix, this powerful portrait is the painted expression of her anguish. and her grief, ”said Anna, Latin American Art Director at Sotheby’s. Di Stasi, in a press release following the auction. “You could call tonight’s result the ultimate rematch, but in fact it is the ultimate validation of Kahlo’s extraordinary talent and global appeal.

“‘Diego y yo’ is more than a beautifully painted portrait. It is a painted summary of all of Kahlo’s passion and pain, a tour de force of the artist’s raw emotional power at the peak of his ability. . “

Kahlo painted bust self-portraits, a format first popularized during the European Renaissance, throughout his career, and they are among his most famous works.

Completed in 1949, five years before his death, “Diego y yo” is the artist’s last self-portrait of the 1940s.

After her second marriage to Mexican muralist Diego Rivera – the couple remarried in 1940 after divorcing a year earlier – Kahlo was influenced by subjects ranging from Aztec and Eastern mythology to medicine and botany. She also portrayed her debilitating health issues and her turbulent relationship with Rivera, creating a personal iconography in her work.

Kahlo met Rivera when she asked him to critique her work, and the ups and downs of their relationship became a key subject of her art.

“Diego y yo” depicts Kahlo wearing a huipil, a type of traditional blouse for women from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in southern Mexico. She wears this distinctive red huipil in many of her best-known self-portraits and in a famous series of photographs by Hungarian-American portrait painter Nickolas Muray.

Kahlo’s loose hair, usually nicely braided, almost seems to strangle her. She has red cheeks and teary eyes.

In the middle of his forehead are Rivera’s head and shoulders – a symbol of his central position in his mind. Rivera, in turn, is depicted with a third eye on his forehead.

“Frida Kahlo is a global icon of modern art whose work is appreciated around the world,” Di Stasi said in a statement announcing the sale in September. “‘Diego y yo’ embodies the meticulously detailed rendering, intricate iconography, and deeply personal narratives that characterize his mature painting.”