Diego Rivera painting sells privately for $15.7 million

This undated photo provided by the Phillips Auction House shows Diego Rivera's "Baile en Tehuantepec." Phillips Auction House says that the painting that has sold privately for $15,7 million dollars sets a world record price for any work of Latin American art. The figure nearly duplicates the previous record of Latin American art set for Frida Kahlo's "Dos desnudos en el bosque," which sold for more than $8 million dollars at a Sotheby's public auction on May 12, 2016.. (2016 Banco de Mexico Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Phillips Auction House via AP) This undated photo provided by the Phillips Auction House shows Diego Rivera's "Baile en Tehuantepec." Phillips Auction House says that the painting that has sold privately for $15,7 million dollars sets a world record price for any work of Latin American art. The figure nearly duplicates the previous record of Latin American art set for Frida Kahlo's "Dos desnudos en el bosque," which sold for more than $8 million dollars at a Sotheby's public auction on May 12, 2016.. (2016 Banco de Mexico Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Phillips Auction House via AP)

By Associated Press May 20, 2016 2 min read

NEW YORK (AP) – A Diego Rivera painting has sold privately for $15.7 million, setting a world record price for any Latin American work of art, Phillips auction house said Friday.

The price for “Dance in Tehuantepec” nearly doubles the figure paid at auction last month for a painting by Frida Kahlo, Rivera’s wife whom he later divorced. Her “Two Nudes in the Forest (The Land Itself)” set a new auction record for Latin American art.

The private sale was facilitated by Phillips.

The buyer, Argentinian collector Eduardo Costantini, told The Associated Press that he has waited 20 years to acquire “Dance in Tehuantepec,” which he unsuccessfully tried to purchase in 1995 when it came up at auction at Sotheby’s.

It has been out of public view since then.