Associated Press file photo / A painting by Frida Kahlo titled “El sueno (La cama)” or (The Dream (The Bed), is displayed at Sotheby’s auction rooms in London on Sept. 19.

MEXICO CITY — Frida Kahlo’s “El sueno (La cama)” — in English, “The Dream (The Bed)” — is causing a stir among art historians as its estimated $40 million to $60 million price tag would make it the most expensive work by any female or Latin American artist when it goes to auction later this month.

Sotheby’s auction house will put the painting up for sale on Nov. 20 in New York after exhibiting it in London, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong and Paris.

“This is a moment of a lot of speculation,” said Mexican art historian Helena Chavez Mac Gregor, a researcher at UNAM’s Institute of Aesthetic Research and author of “El liston y la bomba. El arte de Frida Kahlo (The Ribbon and the Bomb. The Art of Frida Kahlo).”

In Mexico, Kahlo’s work is protected by a declaration of artistic monument, meaning pieces within the country cannot be sold or destroyed. However, works from private collections abroad — like the painting in question, whose owner remains unrevealed — are legally eligible for international sale.

“The system of declaring Mexican modern artistic heritage is very anomalous,” said Mexican curator Cuauhtemoc Medina, an art historian and specialist in contemporary art.

Judas in bed

“El sueno (La cama)” was created in 1940 following Kahlo’s trip to Paris, where she came into contact with the surrealists.

Contrary to contemporary belief, the skull on the bed’s canopy is not a Day of the Dead skeleton, but a Judas — a handmade cardboard figure. Traditionally lit with gunpowder during Easter, this effigy symbolizes purification and the triumph of good over evil, representing Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus.

In the painting, the skeleton is detailed with firecrackers, flowers on its ribs and a smiling grimace — a detail inspired by a cardboard skeleton Kahlo actually kept in the canopy of her own bed.

Kahlo “spent a lot of time in bed waiting for death,” said Chavez Mac Gregor. “She had a very complex life because of all the illnesses and physical challenges with which she lived.”