From Mexican modernism to Brazilian sculpture, this thrilling collecting category is rapidly growing in prominence—and now is the perfect time to invest, writes Florence Hallett

Frida Kahlo’s 1949 painting “Diego y yo”, exhibited at Sotheby’s prior to its record-breaking US$34.9 million sale. Photograph: Sotheby’s

From the surrealist dreamworlds of Remedios Varo to the shifting colorscapes of Carlos Cruz-Diez’s “Physichromies,” Latin American art has something to suit every sensibility. It’s this diversity of styles—across painting, sculpture, prints and more—that makes the category so exciting. Vibrant and still underexplored, Latin American art is the perfect hunting ground for collectors looking to complement and enhance an existing interior or anchor a new one.

“If you’re someone who collects geometric abstraction, then maybe you have a Josef Albers or a Victor Vasarely, but what you might not have is a Jesús Rafael Soto,” says Emily Nice, assistant vice president and specialist in Latin American art at Sotheby’s. “He’s working around the same period, exploring related ideas about optics and the relationship of the spectator to the artwork, but the price point is more accessible.”

Sotheby’s is the market leader in Latin American art, for which it recorded unprecedented demand in 2024, when surrealist Leonora Carrington’s 1945 masterpiece “Les Distractions de Dagobert” made an astonishing US$28.5 million at auction. This was both a record for a British-born woman artist and good news for collectors of Latin American art: Carrington (1917-2011) moved to Mexico in her 20s, where she lived for long periods. While her works are now inevitably less accessible, the buzz around Carrington brings other figures to the fore, just as Sotheby’s May New York sales approach.

“Les Distractions de Dagobert” (1945) by Leonora Carrington went under the hammer in 2024. Photograph: Sotheby’s

A prime example is Bridget Bate Tichenor (1917-1990), another British artist who went to Mexico to reinvent herself as a surrealist painter. “She studied Hieronymus Bosch’s techniques and made these really beautiful jewel-like paintings,” says Nice. “They’re relatively rare but they do come up at auction, and the price point is a fraction of a Carrington but for a very similarly inventive and fascinating artist.”

The availability of extraordinarily high-quality works, including by such sought-after names as Mexican muralist Diego Rivera (1886-1957) and the Colombian Fernando Botero, who only died in 2023, is a legacy of past neglect by institutions focused on European and North American art. What was once a specialist niche now attracts collectors from all over the world, whose tastes are less constrained by geographical regions and more holistic—their interests in artistic influence and practice leading them to seek out works that speak to the pieces they already own. Diego Rivera’s “Aguadoras otomíes” (1955) will be auctioned at Sotheby’s New York, Modern Day Auction, May 2025. Photograph: Sotheby’s

It’s a shift reflected and fuelled by the academic and museum worlds. In London, the Royal Academy’s 2025 exhibition “Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism” and Whitechapel Gallery’s 2024 retrospective of Brazilian Lygia Clark (1920-1988) follow recent U.S. surveys of Mexican modernism as evidence of Latin American art’s growing prominence in the global lexicon. 

Exhibitions like these are perfect entry points for newer collectors, according to Nice. “Educating your eye and learning about what you’re seeing is so important to being able to recognize opportunities when they come up,” she says. Certainly, the May sales cater to the current interest in Brazilian art and the ongoing appetite for Mexican modernism, which hit a high in 2021 when Sotheby’s sold Frida Kahlo’s 1949 work “Diego y yo” for US$34.9 million, making it the most expensive work by a Latin American artist ever sold at auction. 

Lygia Clark’s sculpture, Bicho Desfolhado (1960) will be auctioned at Sotheby’s New York, Contemporary Day Auction, May 2025. Photograph: Sotheby’s

Amazingly, there are still trophies to be had, including major oil paintings by Diego Rivera and another Mexican great, Rufino Tamayo (1899-1991). Meanwhile, a beautiful bicho sculpture by Lygia Clark and a stunning large-scale relief by fellow Brazilian Sergio Camargo (1930-1990) are joined by a true rarity—a landmark history painting by Colombian modernist Alipio Jaramillo (1913-1999). It’s a real spread, with the promise of some hidden gems nestling among the showstoppers.

Find out more about Sotheby’s New York sales here. Our Collecting Focus series also features expert advice on Americana, modern and contemporary prints and historic books