The latest trend in NFTs: creating digital twins of Frida Kahlo paintings, with talk that the Mona Lisa could be next.
By Charles Passy
A U.S.-based Kahlo foundation is pushing the concept, and some in the collectibles world view it as a potential future courant.
Frida Kahlo’s self-portrait, “Diego and I,” fetched $34.9 million at Sotheby’s in 2021. Just last month, that record was eclipsed when “The Dream,” another Kahlo work, sold for $54.7 million at Sotheby’s.
Can a single painting truly become two distinct entities?
That’s the core question raised by the Frida Kahlo Foundation (Fundación Kahlo), an organization in the United States that honors Kahlo, the Mexican-born artist (1907–1954), whose works have become highly prized by collectors worldwide. Weeks after Sotheby’s sold Kahlo’s self-portrait for $54.7 million—setting a new benchmark for a work by a female artist—the foundation announced a plan to create “digital twins” of Kahlo paintings using blockchain technology to maximize the impact of those works.
The initiative aims to address a practical obstacle. Mexican federal law restricts culturally significant artworks by artists like Kahlo from leaving the country. That restriction makes it hard to persuade global collectors to donate paintings to organizations such as the Kahlo foundation, which supports Museo Casa Kahlo, a new museum in Mexico City. In effect, the paintings are effectively repatriated when they return to Mexico and cannot rejoin the global market.
That reality complicates the foundation’s vision of displaying Kahlo paintings at the museum. The new institution is separate from Museo Frida Kahlo, an already established museum in Mexico City that houses Kahlo’s works.
Consequently, the foundation is presenting donors with a “have your cake and eat it too” proposition. A collector can donate a Kahlo painting and receive a tax deduction, while still retaining ownership of a digital twin as a distinct form of ownership.
It may sound like a stretch, but Kahlo Foundation chair Rick Miramontez argues the concept will resonate with a certain kind of modern, tech-savvy donor.
“There’s a younger generation that would be into it,” he told MarketWatch.
A photo shows a woman selling Kahlo-themed souvenirs outside the newly opened Museo Caso Kahlo in Mexico City.
What exactly is a digital twin? John Auckland, co-founder of LMNL—the platform collaborating with the Kahlo foundation on this project—describes it as an evolved version of the NFT (non-fungible token). Blockchain technology can tokenize a work of art or any collectible, among other things.
Auckland explains that the digital twins LMNL creates encompass not only the artwork itself but also all provenance documents—bills of sale, certificates, and related records. In his view, the twin becomes the ultimate certificate of authenticity, and the twin’s owner remains connected to the original work even if the physical painting is no longer in their possession.
“You get to be part of the painting’s story,” Auckland said.
LMNL’s ambitions extend beyond Kahlo. Auckland notes that the company has begun pursuing rights to the works of other renowned artists. The technology, he says, has vast potential: “We believe this could create a digital twin of the Mona Lisa.”
NFT technology isn’t entirely new. Earlier efforts exist, such as laCollection’s partnership with institutions like the British Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, on NFT projects.
NFTs have also penetrated other collectibles markets, with sports offering one of the early notable examples—NBA Top Shot being a prominent case.
“We believe this could create a digital twin of the Mona Lisa.” — John Auckland
Yet some skeptics say the once-popular idea of tokenizing collectibles has lost its momentum.
“Now we turn away from digital collectibles. The market is down,” said Michael Provenzale, Heritage Auctions’ sports department production manager.
Still, Rob Petrozzo, co-founder of Rally (a platform for fractional ownership of collectibles), believes NFTs and digital twins may have room to grow, thanks to persistent demand for rarities across many domains.
Petrozzo suggests digital twins could carry genuine value—potentially even rivaling or surpassing the original—because collectibles are a space with broad public interest.
But is a twin, even for a one-of-a-kind Kahlo painting, truly a collectible in its own right? Stephen Fishler, a collectibles expert and CEO of ComicConnect, questions the premise.
For Fishler, the twin is a concept; the painting remains the tangible object—canvas, frame, and all.
“That’s what you want to own,” he said.
— Charles Passy
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