Frida Kahlo's 'Diego y yo' self-portrait sells for $34.9 million, shattering records

(Image credit: AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

published 17 November 2021

Frida Kahlo's final self-portrait, "Diego y yo," is now the most expensive Latin American artwork ever sold at auction.

The 1949 oil painting sold for $34.9 million on Tuesday night during Sotheby's Modern Evening Sale in New York City. Painted five years before her death, it features Kahlo with a portrait of her husband, Diego Rivera, covering part of her forehead. "Diego y yo" was last sold in 1990 for $1.4 million. The previous record for a Kahlo painting was set in 2016, when her 1939 piece "Two Nudes in the Forest" sold at auction for $8 million.

Gregorio Luke, a Mexican and Latin American art expert, told NBC News that Kahlo was inspired by art from around the world and influenced by different cultures. He said he believes Kahlo painted a third eye in "Diego y yo" because of her fascination with Eastern tradition, and her multiculturalism intrigues the public. "She blends all these things together," Luke said. "She creates something that has a mixture of everybody. So when people look at Frida, they find in that painting something that speaks directly to them."