Self-portrait miniature of Frida Kahlo is up for auction

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

For fans of the work of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo today is a holiday. On May 25, the Sotheby`s auction house is putting up for auction a self-portrait of the artist, painted by her for one of her lovers, the artist Jose Bartoli. The brooch-sized miniature with a signature on the back is estimated at about a million dollars.

The artist Bartoli remained in history thanks to the fact that he entered the circle of people with whom Frida Kahlo was anxiously in love. Among them were various men and women, little-known and famous, like the politician and revolutionary Lev Trotsky and the artist (also a rebel of his kind) Diego Rivera.

This couple was called "two volcanoes" - both were indomitable in talent, lust for life, violent manifestations of feelings. Both could not live either with each other or without each other, writes RIA Novosti.

Frida Kahlo's works rarely appear on the market and always become a sensation. The artist painted about 170 paintings, most of which are self-portraits. “I write what I know best,” explained the artist, who had been bedridden for months after suffering from polio as a child.

“When they got married and arrived in Paris, they were represented by 'the artists Diego Rivera and his wife.' Now they say: "the artists Frida Kahlo and her husband," - told the story of several lots, the first vice-president of Sotheby`s and the organizer of the auction Carmen Melian.

In turn, Bartoli kept a miniature of Frida in the cherished casket all his life. “Beloved Bartoli. Mara , - brought out the cinnabar color of Kahlo's blood, signing with a name invented only for him. She wrote to him in New York from Mexico the most lyrical letters, full of tenderness and care, promising that someday they would be together again. Only after the death of the artist, his widow sold the portrait, which turned out to be the most valuable treasure of the family.