Kahlo Self-Portrait Goes for Record $1.65 Million

Frida Kahlo’s “Self-Portrait With Loose Hair” sold for a record $1.65 million Wednesday night at Christie’s New York. The 1947 painting is the most expensive work by a Latin American artist ever sold at auction, surpassing the previous record price of $1.43 million paid last year for another Kahlo self-portrait, “Diego y Yo.”

The Park Avenue auction house identified the buyer only as a Mexican private collector, but sources who attended the auction said that the new owner of the highly publicized Kahlo is Margara Garza-Sada of Monterrey, Mex. Her son, Mauricio Fernandez, is said to have made the winning bid. Sources familiar with Garza-Sada’s collection said that she is a major collector of Mexican art.

“Self-Portrait With Loose Hair,” which had been valued at $1.5 million to $2 million, was the highlight of a two-day auction of Latin American art scheduled to wind up late Thursday afternoon. The auction of 216 items is expected to total between $12.4 million and $16.2 million in sales.

The Kahlo painting was sold by Louise Noun of Des Moines, who has established the Chrysalis Foundation to benefit Iowa women through scholarships and innovative programs. Proceeds of the sale will endow an archive for Iowa women at the University of Iowa. Noun bought the painting for $85,000 in 1983.