Sotheby’s Marquee Week auctions in New York will showcase some of the finest private collections in the art world. Among the most eagerly anticipated sales are Vincent van Gogh’s Romans Parisiens (Les Livres Jaunes) from the collection of Cindy and Jay Pritzker, and Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer from Leonard A. Lauder’s collection.
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Immediately after the Pritzker Collection auction, another major private collection will be offered. Exquisite Corpus, comprising more than 80 Surrealist paintings, drawings, and sculptures, brings together an exceptional range of works in this genre. Julian Dawes, Sotheby’s Vice Chairman and Head of Impressionist & Modern Art, Americas, noted: “Collections of this caliber and focus are encountered perhaps once in a lifetime. Exquisite Corpus is more than a remarkable assembly of individual masterpieces — it is a living body in which the narratives and imagery of different artists converge into something greater than the sum of its parts. It captures the spirit of imagination and intellectual curiosity that defined the Surrealist epoch – a collection that is, in every sense, the stuff of dreams.”
See also: Surrealism and the Subconscious
The collector remains unnamed, but the artists represented are well known, including Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dalí, Dorothea Tanning, Max Ernst, and René Magritte.
Leading the sale is Kahlo’s intimate self-portrait, El sueño (The Bed). Painted in 1940, it reflects a period of renewal in her life that began with her divorce from Diego Rivera and ended with their remarriage. The painting shows Kahlo sleeping in a four-poster bed, surrounded by green vines symbolising growth. On the canopy is a skeleton holding a bouquet of dried flowers and armed with sticks of dynamite. While Kahlo did have a papier-mâché skeleton above her bed, the dynamite may suggest the fragility of her health.
See also: Frida Kahlo: Colorful Portraitist and Social Commentator
At 18, Kahlo, already affected by a shortened leg from polio, was severely injured in a bus accident. She was confined to bed for long periods and required a brace. During this time, she began painting, initially creating self-portraits using a special easel and a mirror positioned above her bed. For Kahlo, the bed became a central space where major events in her life unfolded.
El sueño (The Bed) is an exceptional work, reflected in its estimate of $40–60 million. This surpasses Kahlo’s current auction record of $34.9 million, set at Sotheby’s New York in 2021 for Diego y yo (1949).
See also: Frida Kahlo Sets Two New Auction Records
Anna Di Stasi, Senior Vice President and Head of Latin American Art at Sotheby’s, said: “El sueño stands among Frida Kahlo’s greatest masterworks — a rare and striking example of her most surrealist impulses. In this composition, Kahlo fuses dream imagery and symbolic precision with unmatched emotional intensity, creating a work that is at once deeply personal and universally resonant. It is an enduring testament to her genius and its appearance on the market presents an unparalleled opportunity to acquire a cornerstone of Surrealism.”
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Other highlights include Dorothea Tanning’s Interior with Sudden Joy (1951), estimated at $2–3 million; Kay Sage’s The Point of Intersection (1951–52), $1–1.5 million; Salvador Dalí’s Symbiose de la tête aux coquillages (1931), $2–3 million; and René Magritte’s La Représentation (1962) and La Révélation du présent (1936), estimated at $4–6 million and $2–3 million respectively.
The Exquisite Corpus Evening Auction will take place on November 20 at Sotheby’s new New York headquarters, with the exhibition open to the public from November 8.
