Frida Kahlo's self-portrait *El sueño (La cama)* (1940) sold for $54.7 million at a Sotheby’s auction in New York, setting a new record for the artist and the highest price ever paid for a work by a female painter. The sale, which exceeded pre-auction estimates of $40–50 million, briefly appeared to signal progress in the art market's gender dynamics.
Despite this milestone, the article argues that the gender gap in the art market remains stark and systemic. Male artists' works continue to command far higher prices—Caravaggio's paintings have exceeded $450 million, and Jeff Koons' works top $90 million—while female artists like Kahlo, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Jenny Saville remain exceptions. A 2021 study by Renée B. Adams at the University of Oxford found that identical works attributed to male artists receive higher valuations from collectors, revealing deep cultural biases. The article concludes that the imbalance is rooted in a centuries-old canon built by men, though institutions like the National Museum of Women in the Arts and Murray Edwards College are working to correct it.