Indian artist's painting breaks records with $13.8 million sale at Christie’s

Art News reveals in a latest article that Indian artist M. F. Husain's painting Untitled (Gram Yatra) achieved a record-breaking price of $13.8 million at a Christie’s auction in New York, making it the most expensive modern Indian artwork ever sold at a public auction.

This sale, which includes fees, far exceeded the auction house's estimate of $2.5 million–$3.5 million, and surpassed Husain’s previous record of $3.1 million set by Untitled (Reincarnation) at Sotheby’s in London last September.

The previous record for a modern Indian work was held by Amrita Sher-Gil’s The Story Teller (1937), which sold for $7.4 million in Mumbai in September 2023. Additionally, S. H. Raza’s 1959 painting Kallisté fetched $5.6 million last March at Sotheby’s, surpassing its estimated price of $2 million–$3 million, setting the highest-ever estimate for modern Indian art at auction.

The Husain record was set during Christie’s auction for South Asian modern and contemporary art, a growing market despite its fragmented nature. Untitled (Gram Yatra), painted in 1954 and nearly 14 feet long, took 13 years to be consigned to the auction. Nishad Avari, head of Christie’s South Asian department in New York, called it “by far one of the most significant works” he has encountered in his career.

The piece consists of 13 vignettes portraying rural life in India, a reflection of India’s post-independence period and Husain’s exploration of what it meant to be a modern Indian artist. One vignette, depicting a farmer, is seen as a self-portrait, symbolizing the sustenance and protection of the land.

Originally owned by Norwegian surgeon Leon Elias Volodarsky, the painting was donated to Oslo University Hospital in 1964. Avari recalled, “We’re getting on a plane,” when contacted by the hospital. After seven decades, Untitled (Gram Yatra) was sold, with the proceeds going to set up a training center for doctors in Volodarsky’s name.

By Naila Huseynova