Amrita Sher-Gil’s oil on canvas painting “The Story Teller” toppled S.H. Raza’s “Gestation”, to become the most expensive artwork from India to be auctioned.

“Records are meant to be broken”- this saying is certainly turning out to be true in the recent art auction market. Just two weeks after Sayed Haider Raza’s Gestation being sold at a record-high amount of ₹51.75 crore, Amrita Sher-Gil’s painting, The Story Teller broke it on September 16, earning an astounding amount of ₹61.80 crore. This made it the costliest Indian art piece ever sold at an auction. The SaffronArt auction held at The Oberoi in New Delhi generated a total of ₹181 crore, including the sale of this painting. 

Thrilled by the record created at his auction Dinesh Vazirani, CEO and co-founder of Saffronart said, “Most significantly, the record price achieved by Amrita Sher-Gil’s ‘The Story Teller’ is an important milestone in the Indian art market and a testament to the artist’s immense skill and enduring legacy as one of India’s art treasures”.

Sher-Gil was a Hungarian-Indian painter who showed a passion for art at the age of five. She moved to India with her family in 1921 and died at a very young age of 28 in 1941. Despite her short career of only a decade, her remarkable work had a lasting impact on the art world. She was declared one of India’s nine “National Art Treasure” artists by the Archaeological Survey of India in 1976, posthumously.

The Story Teller is a unique blend of Sher-Gil’s Pahari and Parisian styles. It shows women enjoying different activities in an open area. This piece was one of twelve selected by Sher-Gil herself and she considered it one of her most significant works. According to Minal Vazirani, co-founder of the SaffronArt, as one of India’s national treasures, it is very rare to find Amrita Sher-Gil’s works like this, available for sale.

Independent art critic and curator, Uma Nair emphasized on the emergence of a strong art collector community in the Indian market who believe in art as an asset class. 

With this sale, India has become one of the few countries where a woman artist is leading the market. This is also a clear testament to the sustained growth and vitality of the art market in recent times, with a plethora of records being broken and the Indian art market becoming increasingly dynamic.  Several factors are contributing to it, one of which is the increase in the number of new and dedicated collectors joining the market. These collectors are discerning, financially capable and motivated to build a good collection. 

The market has grown by 265% over the past decade according to the “State of the Indian Art Market Report FY23”. It will not be wrong to opine that India’s growth into a $3.30 trillion economy has had an impact on the art market as well.

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