A painting by one of India’s greatest modern artists MF Husain was sold for Rs 118 crore at an auction in New York, the highest amount ever paid for an Indian artwork.
When the painting was finally sold after being hidden away in Norway for decades, applause broke out at New York’s Rockefeller Center on Wednesday afternoon. Art collector and philanthropist Kiran Nadar reportedly outbid everyone at an eye-watering $13.8 million (₹119 crore) to buy artist MF Husain’s painting ‘Untitled (Gram Yatra)’.
The painting, completed in 1954 and shows 13 vignettes of Indian rural life, is now the most expensive Indian artwork ever sold at an auction. This price is almost double the previous record of Amrita Sher-Gil’s ‘The Story Teller’, which sold for Rs 61.8 crore at a Saffronart auction in September 2023.
