Frida Kahlo’s El sueño (La cama) (1940) is one of the artist’s most haunting and introspective works—an image suspended between dream and death, intimacy and surrealism. Painted during a turbulent period in her life, the composition transforms her bed into a stage for self-invention and psychological reckoning. A skeleton wrapped in dynamite floats above her body like a spectral companion, fusing personal symbolism with Mexico’s Día de los Muertos traditions and Surrealist imagery.
In this episode of Anatomy of an Artwork, Sotheby’s specialists unpack how El sueño (La cama) reveals the tension between life and mortality that defined Kahlo’s art. Through every brushstroke, she turns private pain into visual poetry, merging her physical reality with cultural ritual and redefining Surrealism on her own terms.
Sotheby’s is proud to present Frida Khalo’s El sueño (La cama) as the centerpiece of New York’s upcoming Exquisite Corpus Evening Auction, Surrealist treasures from a distinguished private collection, taking place live on 20 November at 18:30 EST.
