The South African artist who set a world record by selling a painting for R245 million

A painting by South African artist Marlene Dumas has sold for R245 million at auction, setting a new record for a living female artist.

Marlene Dumas’ 1997 painting “Miss January” recently sold for over $13.6 million at an auction in New York. 

Painted in 1997, the work sees Dumas revisit “Miss World,” an artwork depicting the forms of 10 models she painted 30 years prior at the age of 10.

According to Christie’s, the auction house where the artwork was sold, the painting is considered Dumas’ “magnum opus” and stands 2.82 meters tall. 

According to a separate statement from Christie’s published earlier this month, the painting was expected to fetch between $12 million (R215 million) and $18 million (R322 million).

Marelize van Zyl, CEO of Aspire Art, said the painting is emblematic of Dumas’s approach.

Van Zyl described it as a “larger-than-life portrait” painted initially for a 1998 solo exhibition in Amsterdam titled Miss World. 

While its title might suggest glamour, the image tells a different story—a vulnerable, detached female figure drawn from an erotic magazine. 

“It challenges the viewer,” Van Zyl said. “Dumas gives us a very subtle but very serious critique about the objectification of women’s bodies throughout art history and social history in the media and art.”

Van Zyl added that the painting’s path to auction was equally significant. It came from the renowned Rubell family collection in the United States.

Whose support of African-American and Global South artists, Van Zyl noted, has been pioneering in recent years. 

“First of all, this work carried immense provenance,” Van Zyl explained. Not only had it been part of a major private collection, but it had also been exhibited extensively in museums across the U.S. and internationally. 

“All the critics, all the art historians, all the social historians… if they write about issues of womanhood, identity, gender issues—they will use this work as a primary example,” Van Zyl said. 

The Cape Town-born artist 

Marlene Dumas was born in Cape Town and raised in Kuils River in the Western Cape, where her father had a vineyard.

She studied at the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town, before leaving South Africa in 1976 to pursue further studies in Amsterdam. 

She studied psychology at the University of Amsterdam in 1979 and 1980. Dumas began painting in 1973. 

Her work reflects her political concerns and reflections on her identity as a white woman of Afrikaans descent in South Africa.

“At a very, very early stage her talent had been seen,” Van Zyl explained, noting that Dumas quickly rose to international prominence for her emotionally intense and layered painting style.

Dumas is known for exploring complex and often uncomfortable themes related to identity, sexuality, and politics while challenging traditional norms. 

“She doesn’t shy away from complex issues… be that personal, political or socio-cultural,” Van Zyl added. 

“This is what makes her work so incredibly successful — it makes you stop and think.”

Dumas’ work is represented in museum collections worldwide, including the Art Institute of Chicago, Paris, The Hague, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.

Others include the Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, and Tate, United Kingdom.

Dumas has received several notable awards, including the Düsseldorf Art Prize (2007), the Rolf Schock Prize in the Visual Arts (2011), and the Johannes Vermeer Award (2012). 

Today, Dumas lives and works in the Netherlands and is one of the country’s most prolific artists.

Spotlight on South African art 

This sale not only set a new world record for the highest price ever achieved by a living woman artist at auction but also highlighted the potential of South African and African artists.

According to Van Zyl, this achievement is highly significant not only for its monetary value but also for what it represents. 

“It highlights the importance of representation, recognition, and the changing narrative about African and female artists in the international art scene,” she said. 

While Dumas has long been considered one of Africa’s most influential artists, alongside peers like William Kentridge, Van Zyl added that her success offers inspiration for other local artists, particularly women. 

“You don’t have to be in Europe or in America,” she said. “You can create from our continent, from our country. The world has become much smaller with digital platforms.” 

She said that there has been a growing global appetite for contemporary African art over the past two decades, with investors and collectors increasingly drawn to the richness of the continent’s stories, materials, and perspectives.

Van Zyl also noted the record-breaking sale as a much-needed correction in the art world. “For too long, art history and collections have been dominated by a Eurocentric narrative,” she said. 

Van Zyl added that despite continued disparities in pricing between male and female artists, this milestone sale signals change. 

“We trust that it will inspire collectors and investors to look at our pool of creative female artists in South Africa and the broader continent.”