Highlights: Latin American Women Artists (Auction market 2016 - 2025)

Artscapy, in partnership with ArtTactic, is delighted to release its latest market analysis, Latin American Women Artists 2016 to 2025 (YTD). The full report is available to buy and download here. 

The Latin American art market is entering a defining moment, and this report reflects our continued commitment to delivering transparency and data-driven insights to collectors and investors. Focusing on modern and contemporary Latin American women artists, the analysis captures the nuances of a sector marked by rising visibility, growing market participation, and increasing confidence at the top end.

The November 2025 Sotheby’s New York sale exemplified this momentum. Frida Kahlo’s El sueño (La cama) (1940) became the focal point of the season, raising the question of whether it could surpass the highest auction price ever achieved by a female artist and exceed Kahlo’s own $34.9 million record from 2021. Its final price of $54.7 million (including fees) achieved exactly that. Yet even this landmark result highlights the wider picture: while the market for women artists is strengthening at an unprecedented pace, a considerable gap remains at the very top, with the highest male auction result, Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi at $450.3 million, still far outpacing female records.

Against this backdrop, 2025 marks a historic high for the category. Auction sales for Latin American women artists reached US$84.9 million, up 29% year-on-year, with women now accounting for 58% of total Latin American auction value. With global visibility for this segment at an all-time high, this Artscapy x ArtTactic report examines the milestones shaping the market today and what they signal for its future trajectory.

Momentum extends beyond the headline artists

While Kahlo leads the category, the report highlights broadening collector interest across generations:

• Modern women artists dominate by value, representing more than 77% of total sales.
• Young contemporary artists (born in the 1980s–1990s) achieved double-digit sales growth, defying the broader softening seen in contemporary art globally.
• Even with fewer works coming to market in 2025, the segment remained exceptionally resilient, recording an 88% sell-through rate, well above historical norms.
• Average prices nearly doubled, buoyed but not solely driven by Kahlo’s new record.
• Works under $50,000 accounted for nearly half of all lots sold, indicating demand is truly broad-based and not concentrated only at the top end.

Artists such as Firelei Báez, Marina Perez Simão, and Ilana Savdie also demonstrated accelerating demand and strengthening price trajectories. 

Regional representation expands

The number of Latin American women artists appearing at auction reached its highest point in a decade: 63 artists sold in 2025, compared with an annual average of 47 between 2016 and 2021.

While Mexican artists including Kahlo, Leonora Carrington, and Remedios Varo continue to anchor the category, representation is broadening with strong activity from Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Cuba.

Within the top performers by sales value:

• Olga de Amaral, born in Bogotá, Colombia ranks third, with 14 lots sold and an average price of $580,632. Her position underscores the strength of textile-based and material-driven practices in the region.
• Leonor Fini, born in Buenos Aires and raised in Trieste, ranks fifth with nine lots sold at an average price of $265,677. Her market resurgence reflects renewed institutional focus on women Surrealists.

These positions underscore the increasing breadth of the market, revealing that interest in Latin American women artists now spans a wider geographic and stylistic range than ever before.

Spotlight: Leonor Fini’s market ascends

The report dedicates a focused section to Leonor Fini, whose institutional profile has risen sharply thanks to prominent exhibitions at the Venice Biennale, Tate Modern, and Palazzo Reale.

Her market growth reflects this heightened visibility:

• New auction record in 2025: US$2 million for Dans la tour (Autoportrait…).
• Average price climbed to $265,677, marking a dramatic rise since 2022.
• Collector interest continues to strengthen, positioning Fini closer to peers such as Carrington and Varo, who consistently achieve seven- and eight-figure results.

Want the full analysis?

For a full breakdown of data, rankings, price evolution, and generational trends, download the complete ArtTactic x Artscapy report here.