South African painter Marlene Dumas has made history, claiming the title of the most expensive painting sold by a living woman artist at an auction.
Her 1997 painting Miss January sold for a staggering $13.6 million (approximately R245 million) during a Christie’s auction in New York on Wednesday evening, News24 reports.
The striking portrait, depicting a semi-nude woman gazing directly at the viewer, was snapped up by an anonymous bidder—surpassing the previous record of $12.4 million (approximately R223 million) held by British artist Jenny Saville for his Propped (1992) work that was sold at Sotheby’s London in 2018.
Marlene Dumas’ ‘Miss January’ has set a new #WorldRecord price achieved for any living female artist. The towering portrait of the beauty queen achieves US$13,635,000 during tonight’s 21st Century Evening Sale. pic.twitter.com/BnNbvuB0rr
— Christie’s (@ChristiesInc) May 14, 2025
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Dumas, 71, was born in Cape Town and grew up in Kuils River.
She has lived in Amsterdam since the 1970s and is celebrated globally for her emotionally charged, gestural paintings that explore themes such as identity, gender, and the human condition.
Though often classified as portraiture, Dumas’s work is more concerned with inner states than likeness.
Her figures—ranging from anonymous subjects to celebrities—are typically rendered in expressive brushstrokes that blend beauty with discomfort.
マルレーネ・デュマス
（Marlene Dumas、1953-）
『ジュール、ヴルーに死す』
（Jules, Death at Vroux） pic.twitter.com/OQKEbAR4mQ— 絵画の名前 (@artstitle) January 30, 2025
Dumas’ record-fetching Miss January was inspired by a magazine centrefold image.
“This feels to me like a creature from outer space,” she said, in an a interview with W Magazine in 2008. “In art there’s always this thing about ‘the other.’ Well, I’m a woman, but this still feels to me like some strange creature.”
Dumas’s work is held in major institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate in London, and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. With this record-breaking sale, she has further cemented her status as a global art icon.
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Feature Images: Getty / X
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