“Diego and I”, painted in 1949, “is about to beat” Kahlo’s current auction record of $ 8 million set in 2016, the auction house said in a statement.
The artwork, which will be the star lot of Sotheby’s November big sale, is also expected to break the record for a painting by a Latin American artist.
“Los Rivales”, a 1932 work by Mexican muralist Rivera, with whom Kahlo had a passionate and tumultuous love story, is currently the most valuable. Christie’s sold it for $ 9.8 million in May 2018.
Frida’s self-portrait could reach a figure of more than 600 million pesos
“Diego y yo” is one of the most emblematic self-portraits of the Mexican painter, who has become a feminist icon.
In the painting, Rivera’s face appears on Frida’s forehead, above her characteristic eyebrows and her dark eyes, from which a few tears fall.
The representation of Rivera – at that time close to the Mexican actress María Félix – as a third eye symbolizes the extent to which it tormented his thoughts, art experts say.
Kahlo and Rivera were married twice. She died at age 47 in 1954.
“Diego and I” was last sold at Sotheby’s for $ 1.4 million in 1990.