The Surreal Self-Portrait That Set Remedios Varo's Auction Record
3 min read · 18 Feb 2025
Armonía (Autorretrato Sugerente). Image courtesy of Sotheby's
Remedios Varo's Armonía (Autorretrato Sugerente) (1956) sold for $6.19m at Sotheby's New York on June 29, 2020. The oil on masonite work had been traded 3 times in the past.
In 1988, it had sold for $350,000 at Christie's, which also an auction record for the artist.
The Spanish Surrealist, who had fled Paris after German Occupation in 1940, painted this Dutch Old Master-inspired portrait in 1956 when living in her adopted home of Mexico City.
She painted herself as an artist-scientist, surrounded by symbolic objects, including illustrations she produced while on a scientific expedition to the Orinoco River in Venezuela a decade before.
In the early years of her Latin American exile, Varo supported herself as a commercial artist but her first solo show in Mexico City in 1956 changed all that. The show made her a celebrity, with crowds lining up to see her work and long waiting lists for commissions.
Hacia La Torre. Image courtesy of Sotheby's
The sale beat Varo's previous auction record by $1.88m, a 43% rise. Her previous record was set by Hacia La Torre (1960), which sold for $4.31m at Sotheby's on November 24, 2014. The work had been traded twice before.
A Brief History of Remedios Varo at Auction
Sale Date | Title | Price | Record Increase | Venue | City |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2020-06-29 | Armonía (Autorretrato Sugerente) | $6.19m | 44 % | Sotheby's | New York |
2014-11-24 | Hacia La Torre | $4.31m | 202 % | Sotheby's | New York |
2008-11-18 | Planta insumisa | $1.43m | 90 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1990-05-01 | Hacia La Torre | $750,000 | 70 % | Christie's | New York |
1989-11-21 | La Tejedora de Verona | $440,000 | 26 % | Christie's | New York |
1988-05-18 | Armonía (Autorretrato Sugerente) | $350,000 | 19 % | Christie's | New York |
1987-11-17 | Tailleur pour dames | $295,000 | 127 % | Christie's | New York |
1987-05-19 | Microcosmos Determinismo | $130,000 | 37 % | Christie's | New York |
1986-05-20 | Malabarista | $95,000 | 100 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1981-12-02 | Trasmundo | $47,500 | - | Sotheby's | New York |
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