# Frida Kahlo artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/frida-kahlo/
Profile generated: 2026-05-07T06:37:32.000Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1907-07-06
- Death date: 1954-07-13
- Nationality: Mexican
- Movements: Post-revolutionary Mexicayotl movement, Surrealism (associated, though Kahlo rejected the label), Magical realism
- Common media: Oil painting, Drawing

## About Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) was a Mexican painter whose intensely personal work made her one of the most recognized artists of the twentieth century. Born Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón in Coyoacán, Mexico, she began painting in 1925 while recovering from a devastating bus accident that left her with lifelong chronic pain. Over the following three decades Kahlo produced a relatively small but powerful body of work, dominated by self-portraits that explore identity, physical suffering, and her turbulent marriage to muralist Diego Rivera. Although associated with Surrealism, Kahlo rejected the label, insisting she painted her own reality rather than dreams. Her art drew deeply on Mexican popular culture, indigenous motifs, and post-revolutionary national identity. Today her paintings hang in major museums worldwide, and her image and story have made her a global cultural icon.

## Common works and media

Kahlo's auction and appraisal profile centers on original oil paintings, especially self-portraits and autobiographical compositions on panel or canvas. Works on paper, including drawings and ink studies, also appear occasionally. Her paintings are typically intimate in scale and meticulously executed. Collectors may also encounter prints, exhibition posters, photographic portraits of the artist by figures such as Nickolas Muray, and personal artifacts or letters. Reproductions and merchandise licensed through the Kahlo estate are widely available but hold no fine-art value.

## Market and appraisal context

Frida Kahlo's auction market is defined by extreme scarcity. She produced a small number of paintings over roughly three decades, and very few come to auction. When they do, results are extraordinary: her 1940 self-portrait The Dream set a record at $54.7 million, the highest price ever paid at auction for a work by a female artist. Collectors should be aware that authentication is closely managed by the Kahlo estate, and attribution claims require expert verification. Prints, posters, and reproductions circulate widely and are valued far below original works. Provenance, documented exhibition history, and condition reports are essential to any appraisal of a Kahlo painting.

## Appraisily data basis

This Appraisily artist page draws on verified identity records from the Library of Congress, VIAF, RKD Netherlands Institute, and Wikidata, alongside biographical and art-historical content from the Museum of Modern Art and the artist's official estate site. Market observations reference public auction records and major auction-house context. Appraisily combines this research with comparable sale data, realized prices, and provenance information when available.

## Sources

- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n82031966
- RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/43245
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/2963
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5588
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/110981647/
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frida_Kahlo
- Frida Kahlo Estate: http://www.fkahlo.com/