At a Christie’s New York 21st-century art sale, Marlene Dumas’s painting *Miss January* (1997) sold for $13.6 million with premium, setting a new auction record for the most expensive artwork by a living woman artist. The work, estimated at $12–18 million, narrowly surpassed the previous record of $12.4 million held by Jenny Saville since 2018. Dumas, a 71-year-old South African painter based in Amsterdam, has built a steady market over decades, with her galleries carefully managing her work to avoid speculation.
This record matters because it underscores the growing—but still uneven—recognition of women artists at the highest levels of the auction market. Dumas’s achievement highlights her unique position: less a household name than peers like Yayoi Kusama or Cindy Sherman, yet commanding prices that reflect sustained institutional and collector demand. The sale also signals that the market for blue-chip living female artists continues to climb, even as broader economic pressures weigh on the art world.