SA-born Marlene Dumas smashes record for living female artist with R246m painting
Cape Town-born Marlene Dumas has set a new auction record, becoming the most expensive living female artist.
Cape Town-born Marlene Dumas has set a new auction record, becoming the most expensive living female artist after her 1997 painting Miss January sold for $13.6 million (R246 million) at Christie’s on Wednesday night.
The artwork, a last-minute consignment from the Rubell Family Collection, had been estimated between $12 million and $18 million, with a third-party guarantee in place.
Bidding opened at $9 million and quickly escalated, with the hammer coming down at $11.5 million (before fees), prompting applause in the saleroom.
With fees, the final price reached $13.6 million.
The winning bid came from an anonymous telephone buyer.
Deeply personal
The large-scale portrait revisits themes deeply personal to Dumas, now 71.
It draws inspiration from Miss World, the first known drawing she created at age 10, and connects to her earlier works such as the 1988 Misinterpreted – widely seen as a self-portrait – and her 1992 survey exhibition Miss Interpreted at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
This sale surpasses the previous record for a living female artist, held by Jenny Saville, whose Propped (1992) fetched £9.5 million ($12.4 million) at Sotheby’s London in 2018.
Before this auction, Dumas’s highest price was $6.33 million, achieved in 2008 for The Visitor (1995) at Sotheby’s London.
While her market has remained steady, only a handful of her works have crossed the $1 million mark in recent years.
Between 2022 and 2024, 15 Dumas works were sold at auction, but only five exceeded $1 million, and just two surpassed their high estimates.
The sale was also notable due to the rarity of deaccessions from the Rubell Family Collection, one of the most prominent in the world.
According to past statements, the Rubells have sold fewer than 20 pieces out of more than 5 000 collected over five decades.
Miss January was previously displayed at their private museum in Miami during Art Basel in December.
Dumas’s historic result reaffirms her global significance and places her firmly at the top of the contemporary art market.
Top 10 auction results for Marlene Dumas
| Title | Low Est. | High Est. | Price W/Fees | Sale date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Love your Neighbor | $5,500,000 | $7,500,000 | $5,879,500 | Nov ’23 |
| After the Kiss | $2,427,184 | $3,640,776 | $3,719,660 | Oct ’23 |
| Snow White in the Wrong Story | $3,500,000 | $4,500,000 | $3,781,000 | Nov ’22 |
| Cathedral | $2,847,159 | $3,623,657 | $4,057,202 | Feb ’20 |
| Magdalena (Underwear and Bedtime Stories) | $3,000,000 | $4,000,000 | $3,615,000 | Nov ’17 |
| De gele vingers van de kunstenaar [The yellow fingers of the artist] | $2,200,000 | $2,800,000 | $3,615,000 | Nov ’17 |
| Colorfields | $2,500,000 | $3,500,000 | $4,170,000 | May ’17 |
| Red Head | $2,000,000 | $3,000,000 | $3,250,000 | May ’16 |
| The visitor | $1,594,260 | $2,391,391 | $6,331,706 | Jul ’08 |
| The Teacher (Sub a) | $651,283 | $837,365 | $3,349,460 | Feb ’05 |
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