Art history was made on Wednesday evening at Rockefeller Center in New York as the hammer came down and applause filled the room. Maqbool Fida Husain’s iconic work, Untitled (Gram Yatra), was sold by Christie’s for a record-breaking $13.75 million—the highest sum ever paid for a work of Modern Indian Art.
This is almost double the previous record held by Amrita Sher-Gil’s 1937 oil-on-canvas painting, The Story Teller, which was sold by Saffronart in September 2023 in Mumbai for $7.4 million. It is also nearly four times the previous record for Husain—approximately $3.1 million for a painting named Untitled (Reincarnation), set in London last year.
Gram Yatra (1954) is a mural-sized painting spanning almost 14 feet across 13 vignettes, each offering a glimpse into rural Indian life.
“Husain’s Gram Yatra is a seminal work for several reasons. Its monumental scale is unmatched by most other pieces, but more importantly, its content reflects Indian village life—a theme closely aligned with M. K. Gandhi’s philosophy, emphasising the significance of rural India in the nation’s growth. Notably, this is the first time a work by Husain has led the Indian art market with a world record, something previously achieved by artists like Raza, Tyeb Mehta, Amrita Sher-Gil, and V. S. Gaitonde. This breakthrough is likely to influence the prices of these artists too, driving upward movement for key pieces that hold both historical significance and importance in the broader context of Indian art,” says Dinesh Vazirani, CEO and Co-Founder of Saffronart.
The 1954 painting, often referred to as the Volodarsky Husain, has not been seen in India for over 70 years. According to Christie’s, Husain’s painting was acquired by Ukrainian-born, Norway-based doctor Leon Elias Volodarsky, who was in New Delhi to establish a thoracic surgery training centre for the World Health Organization.
Volodarsky bequeathed the painting to Oslo University Hospital in 1964. Proceeds from the sale will support the training of future generations of doctors at the institution.
“We are thrilled to have been a part of setting a new benchmark value for the work of Maqbool Fida Husain and the entire category,” says Nishad Avari, the head of Christie’s South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art. “This is a landmark moment and continues the extraordinary upward trajectory of the Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art market.”
While Christie’s stated that the work was purchased by an “unnamed institution,” RPG Chairman and art collector Harsh Goenka wrote on X, “M. F. Husain’s Gram Yatra (1954) breaks the ₹100 crore barrier, selling for $13.8 million to Kiran Nadar.”
Art collector and philanthropist Kiran Nadar and the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art declined to comment.
According to Ashish Anand, CEO and Managing Director of DAG (formerly Delhi Art Gallery), which is currently showcasing Husain: The Timeless Modernist, an exhibition celebrating six decades of his work at their Mumbai gallery, “Breaking the ₹100 crore barrier is monumental as it is also psychological. This is a major jump for an artist (Husain) who has long been underpriced among his contemporaries. Prices of others like Raza have risen significantly compared to Husain, but that will change now.”
Anand describes Gram Yatra as the most significant Husain painting in private hands anywhere in the world. Around the same time as Gram Yatra, Husain painted Zameen in a similar format, winning a National Award in 1955. Zameen is currently housed at the National Gallery of Modern Art.
With the painting returning to India, it is good news for art lovers, who will hopefully have the chance to see this monumental work.
As per FY23, the Indian art market at auction was valued at over $144 million (₹1,253 crore), according to the State of the Indian Art Market Report FY23 by Grant Thornton Bharat and Indian Art Investor. This sale alone has significantly altered that figure.
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