Modern India
in addition to Gaitonde
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : India Mehta
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : India Mehta
Content
Modern India has surged in global auctions, with landmark sales reflecting the enduring power of the Progressive Artists' Group and pioneers who fused international modernism with Indian identity. This page spotlights the top 10 auction results for Modern Indian art (prices include premium, in original auction currency), highlighting record-shattering works from Amrita Sher-Gil's poignant rural scenes to M.F. Husain's epic friezes, Tyeb Mehta's tormented figures, and abstracts by V.S. Gaitonde and S.H. Raza. Overarching themes include the market boom in recent years (with 2025 records like Husain's Untitled (Gram Yatra) at $13.8M), rarity of pre-Independence works (Sher-Gil's limited oeuvre as National Art Treasures), and evolution from figurative expressionism amid Partition trauma to meditative abstraction. Provenance, cultural symbolism (e.g., trussed bull as oppression metaphor), and influences (Cubism, Gauguin, Zen) drive values. Lots are grouped by artist below, ordered chronologically by creation date within each for clearer flow. See cross-references within groups for related motifs and bios.
SHER-GIL
Intro
Amrita Sher-Gil had all the qualities to become a pioneer in the globalization of art. She was born in Budapest to a Sikh aristocrat and a Hungarian opera singer and divided her childhood between India and Europe. From the initiative of an uncle, she studies art in Paris from 1929 to 1934.
Amrita painted intensely during those Parisian years, mostly self-portraits and portraits of friends. She observes her own transition from teenager to adulthood, which is also a passage from shyness to energy and from family life to the free life of Parisian students and artists. She analyzes her feelings with a high psychological curiosity, whilst complacently stating that her supreme model is Van Gogh.
On October 6, 2015, Sotheby's sold for £ 1.75M a self portrait, oil on canvas 55 x 46 cm, lot 18. She was 18 years old and her personality was becoming radiant. She reddened her thick lips and displayed her somehow plenty teenage appearance. The loose necklace gives an impression of spontaneity that contrasts nicely with her static attitude.
A self portrait in profile, oil on canvas 65 x 54 cm also painted in 1931, was sold for £ 1.76M by Christie's on June 10, 2015, lot 11. She is now a coquettish young woman promised in marriage to a young man by her family and loved by another. The profile has the meaning of her new attitude, now proud of herself and enjoying to be coveted. The empty bowl on the table before her is the past that she no longer watches.
Amrita admires Gauguin's tribute to the beauty of Tahitian women. In the Art Déco period, she also retains the expressive power of stylization, which will be increasingly visible in her own style after she returned to India in 1934.
On March 18, 2015, Sotheby's sold for $ 2.9M a self-portrait signed Rita, lot 1336. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. This oil on canvas 46 x 33 cm was painted in 1933 while she had her summer time in Hungary. Aged 20, Amrita shows herself as a welcoming and even enticing young woman, with her direct gaze, broad smile and heavily reddened lips.
Less known internationally than Frida Kahlo, Amrita is one of the women who best appreciated and influenced the avant-garde of her time. She is one of the nine artists whose works were classified National Art Treasures in 1972 by an official act of the Government of India, leading to a ban on the permanent leaving of any of her works.
Amrita painted intensely during those Parisian years, mostly self-portraits and portraits of friends. She observes her own transition from teenager to adulthood, which is also a passage from shyness to energy and from family life to the free life of Parisian students and artists. She analyzes her feelings with a high psychological curiosity, whilst complacently stating that her supreme model is Van Gogh.
On October 6, 2015, Sotheby's sold for £ 1.75M a self portrait, oil on canvas 55 x 46 cm, lot 18. She was 18 years old and her personality was becoming radiant. She reddened her thick lips and displayed her somehow plenty teenage appearance. The loose necklace gives an impression of spontaneity that contrasts nicely with her static attitude.
A self portrait in profile, oil on canvas 65 x 54 cm also painted in 1931, was sold for £ 1.76M by Christie's on June 10, 2015, lot 11. She is now a coquettish young woman promised in marriage to a young man by her family and loved by another. The profile has the meaning of her new attitude, now proud of herself and enjoying to be coveted. The empty bowl on the table before her is the past that she no longer watches.
Amrita admires Gauguin's tribute to the beauty of Tahitian women. In the Art Déco period, she also retains the expressive power of stylization, which will be increasingly visible in her own style after she returned to India in 1934.
On March 18, 2015, Sotheby's sold for $ 2.9M a self-portrait signed Rita, lot 1336. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. This oil on canvas 46 x 33 cm was painted in 1933 while she had her summer time in Hungary. Aged 20, Amrita shows herself as a welcoming and even enticing young woman, with her direct gaze, broad smile and heavily reddened lips.
Less known internationally than Frida Kahlo, Amrita is one of the women who best appreciated and influenced the avant-garde of her time. She is one of the nine artists whose works were classified National Art Treasures in 1972 by an official act of the Government of India, leading to a ban on the permanent leaving of any of her works.
1
1937 The Story Teller
2023 SOLD for INR 62 crores (worth US$ 7.4M) by Saffronart
After her brilliant years as an art student in Paris, Amrita Sher-Gil is back in her home country in 1934. She admires the murals at Ajanta, Padmanabhapuram, and Mattancheri.
Her palette becomes dominated by the reds and browns of her ancestral ground. She now desires to express the essence of traditional Indian life, physiognomies and attires through her perfect control of the European technique of the oil on canvas. Local characters display a grave expression exacerbated by her deep compassion for rural poverty. The simplified forms have been compared to Gauguin's. Her outdoor compositions are rare.
Story telling is a logical theme to Amrita Sher-Gil looking for the roots of Indian rural behavior. Such activity in the village is made obsolete by the broadcasting.
The Story Teller, oil on canvas 59 x 74 cm painted in 1937, was sold for INR 62 crores worth at that time US $ 7.4M from a lower estimate of INR 28 crores by Saffronart on September 16, 2023, lot 13. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. It is classified as a non-exportable national art treasure.
The scene is staging a group of women in a house yard. The woman seated on a chair on the left is the teller and the woman on her side who does not look at her is certainly her assistant. The group of listeners is made of four women seated in various postures plus a sheep, a calf and a dog. There is no place for men in the scenery : the only male figure is going away through a door.
Her palette becomes dominated by the reds and browns of her ancestral ground. She now desires to express the essence of traditional Indian life, physiognomies and attires through her perfect control of the European technique of the oil on canvas. Local characters display a grave expression exacerbated by her deep compassion for rural poverty. The simplified forms have been compared to Gauguin's. Her outdoor compositions are rare.
Story telling is a logical theme to Amrita Sher-Gil looking for the roots of Indian rural behavior. Such activity in the village is made obsolete by the broadcasting.
The Story Teller, oil on canvas 59 x 74 cm painted in 1937, was sold for INR 62 crores worth at that time US $ 7.4M from a lower estimate of INR 28 crores by Saffronart on September 16, 2023, lot 13. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. It is classified as a non-exportable national art treasure.
The scene is staging a group of women in a house yard. The woman seated on a chair on the left is the teller and the woman on her side who does not look at her is certainly her assistant. The group of listeners is made of four women seated in various postures plus a sheep, a calf and a dog. There is no place for men in the scenery : the only male figure is going away through a door.
The Evening Sale also achieved #worldrecords for 'The Story Teller', 1937, by Amrita Sher-Gil, which sold for Rs 61.8 crore, making it the highest value achieved for a work by the #artist in #auction worldwide and the most expensive #Indian #artwork sold in auction globally. pic.twitter.com/0MVbP0Uvbn
— Saffronart (@Saffronart) September 18, 2023
2
1938 In the Ladies' Enclosure
2021 SOLD for INR 38 crores (worth US$ 5.1M) by Saffronart
In the Ladies' Enclosure, oil on canvas 54 x 80 cm painted in 1938, features a group of four brown skinned veiled women surrendering at rest to their immuable but self accepted fate. They are accompanied by a young standing girl and a black dog. The composition is completed by a village scene and by two white dressed girls carrying a water pot on the head. Its style is influenced by Rajput miniature paintings. It is classified as a non-exportable national art treasure.
It was sold for INR 38 crores worth at that time US $ 5.1M from a lower estimate of INR 30 crores by Saffronart on July 13, 2021, lot 13.
It was sold for INR 38 crores worth at that time US $ 5.1M from a lower estimate of INR 30 crores by Saffronart on July 13, 2021, lot 13.
1954 Gram Yatra by Husain
2025 SOLD for $ 13.8M by Christie's
The Progressive Artists' Group was created in Bombay (later Mumbai) by six young artists, in 1947 at the time of the bloody riots that resulted from the partition of India and Pakistan. They desired to promote their various styles altogether inspired and departing from the new international art. Maqbool Fida Husain was a founding member of the group and continued it from 1950 after Souza and Raza had left India.
M.F. Husain (Maqbool Fida Husain, 1915–2011), often called the "Picasso of India," was a towering figure in modern Indian art and a founding member of the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group (1947). His work fused traditional Indian narratives, folklore, and mythology with modernist techniques—primarily a modified Cubist style featuring bold lines, fragmented forms, flattened perspectives, vibrant colors, and dynamic, sweeping brushstrokes. This approach allowed him to deconstruct figures while preserving their cultural essence, creating narrative paintings that could be caustic, humorous, serious, or somber. Husain's art celebrated India's post-independence identity, blending folk vitality with cosmopolitan sophistication, often drawing from ancient miniature paintings (e.g., Basohli, Jain schools), Mathura sculpture, and Western influences like Matisse, Klee, Modigliani, and Picasso.
His themes—frequently explored in extended series—spanned diverse subjects: Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, the Ramayana and Mahabharata epics, the British Raj, urban/rural Indian life, Bollywood, and historical/cultural icons. Early works reflected Partition-era turmoil and rural mysticism, evolving into broader explorations of nationhood, spirituality, and human experience. Husain's intuitive, brisk application of paint emphasized movement, energy, and emotional intensity, making his canvases feel alive and expressive.
In an unprecedented epic style made of suites of vignettes, Husain was managing to express the mystic Indian traditions within the rural world, with bold colors in a stylized figuration.
An Untitled frieze painted in 1954 is one such pilgrimage to the village (Gram Yatra). Its thirteen panels are displaying a wide range of rural moments, capturing the relationship between earth and traditional peasants at work, expressing fertility and also populated by various animals. This oil on a single canvas 90 x 420 cm was sold for $ 13.8M from a lower estimate of $ 2.5M by Christie's on March 9, 2025, lot 715.
In the same style, another storyboard was painted in 1956 for the Biennale Internazionale d'Arte di Venezia. This oil on canvas 96 x 250 cm is made of nine painted elements and two blank areas. It was sold for £ 1.08M by Christie's on June 10, 2015, lot 27.
A separated vignette titled Yatra, oil on canvas 85 x 110 cm painted in 1955, was sold for $ 930K by Christie's on September 13, 2011, lot 13. A bullock draws in the field a cart populated by the monkey headed god Hanuman and his family. A similar image had been the central view of the 1954 Gram Yatra narrated above.
An assembly of nearly 20 elements titled Zameen, monumental oil on canvas painted in 1955, is kept at the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi.
M.F. Husain (Maqbool Fida Husain, 1915–2011), often called the "Picasso of India," was a towering figure in modern Indian art and a founding member of the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group (1947). His work fused traditional Indian narratives, folklore, and mythology with modernist techniques—primarily a modified Cubist style featuring bold lines, fragmented forms, flattened perspectives, vibrant colors, and dynamic, sweeping brushstrokes. This approach allowed him to deconstruct figures while preserving their cultural essence, creating narrative paintings that could be caustic, humorous, serious, or somber. Husain's art celebrated India's post-independence identity, blending folk vitality with cosmopolitan sophistication, often drawing from ancient miniature paintings (e.g., Basohli, Jain schools), Mathura sculpture, and Western influences like Matisse, Klee, Modigliani, and Picasso.
His themes—frequently explored in extended series—spanned diverse subjects: Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, the Ramayana and Mahabharata epics, the British Raj, urban/rural Indian life, Bollywood, and historical/cultural icons. Early works reflected Partition-era turmoil and rural mysticism, evolving into broader explorations of nationhood, spirituality, and human experience. Husain's intuitive, brisk application of paint emphasized movement, energy, and emotional intensity, making his canvases feel alive and expressive.
In an unprecedented epic style made of suites of vignettes, Husain was managing to express the mystic Indian traditions within the rural world, with bold colors in a stylized figuration.
An Untitled frieze painted in 1954 is one such pilgrimage to the village (Gram Yatra). Its thirteen panels are displaying a wide range of rural moments, capturing the relationship between earth and traditional peasants at work, expressing fertility and also populated by various animals. This oil on a single canvas 90 x 420 cm was sold for $ 13.8M from a lower estimate of $ 2.5M by Christie's on March 9, 2025, lot 715.
In the same style, another storyboard was painted in 1956 for the Biennale Internazionale d'Arte di Venezia. This oil on canvas 96 x 250 cm is made of nine painted elements and two blank areas. It was sold for £ 1.08M by Christie's on June 10, 2015, lot 27.
A separated vignette titled Yatra, oil on canvas 85 x 110 cm painted in 1955, was sold for $ 930K by Christie's on September 13, 2011, lot 13. A bullock draws in the field a cart populated by the monkey headed god Hanuman and his family. A similar image had been the central view of the 1954 Gram Yatra narrated above.
An assembly of nearly 20 elements titled Zameen, monumental oil on canvas painted in 1955, is kept at the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi.
Key Recurring Motifs and Their Symbolism:
- Horses (Galloping Horses / Equestrian Series): Husain's most iconic and beloved motif, appearing throughout his career (especially in his "Equestrian" phase). These powerful, untamed steeds—often depicted in full gallop with sharp contours, fluid motion, and vivid palettes—symbolize freedom, energy, power, liberation, and the nomadic spirit. Rooted in Indian mythology (e.g., Ashwamedha rituals, Krishna's chariot in the Mahabharata) and historical imagery (Mughal miniatures, warriors), they also metaphorically represent a young nation's yearning to break free from colonial oppression and embrace vitality. The horses embody dynamism and strength, transcending literal depiction to evoke rhythm, emotion, and cultural pride.
- Female Form / Women (Mother Archetype): A central theme, especially from the 1960s onward, influenced by Husain's early loss of his mother. Women appear as nurturing figures, goddesses, epic heroines, or everyday rural/urban women—often elongated, simplified, and rendered in flat, bright colors. They symbolize fertility, creation, renewal, Shakti (divine feminine power), compassion, and the maternal essence of India. This motif ties into personal introspection and broader socio-political themes, including portrayals of Mother Teresa (emphasizing sacrifice and hands as symbols of service) and controversial nude depictions of deities or Bharat Mata.
- Bharat Mata / Mother India: Personifying the nation as a female figure (sometimes nude or abstracted), this motif explores nationalism, territory, belonging, and unity. Works like the 2005 Bharat Mata combined abstraction with patriotic symbolism, though some sparked controversy for non-traditional renderings.
- Mythological and Epic Figures / Deities: Husain frequently reinterpreted Hindu epics (Ramayana, Mahabharata), gods/goddesses, and symbols like the lotus (abundance), elephant (wisdom), or rivers (Ganga/Jamuna as purity/struggle). These blend sacred traditions with modernist abstraction, evoking timeless emotions, moral complexities, and India's spiritual heritage—often with bold, irreverent twists that pushed cultural boundaries.
- Rural and Urban Indian Life / Vignettes: Friezes or series depicting peasants, festivals, yatras (pilgrimages), animals, and everyday scenes highlight fertility, earth-peasant bonds, mysticism, and post-independence evolution. These motifs ground his work in folk traditions while commenting on modernity.
MEHTA
- In 2025 alone (through June), Mehta's works achieved $15.3 million in total auction sales across 7 lots (100% sell-through rate), making it one of his strongest years.
- His market has consistently outperformed prior peaks (e.g., 2022's $17.5 million total).
- Top prices often come from Indian auction houses like Saffronart and AstaGuru, where local enthusiasm drives premiums, though international sales (Christie's, Sotheby's) have historically set early milestones.
Trussed Bull
The trussed bull motif is one of Tyeb Mehta's (1925–2009) most iconic and enduring symbols in his modernist oeuvre, appearing as a central recurring image across his career from the mid-1950s until his final works. It represents human suffering, restraint, captivity, unrealized potential, and the paradox of power and vulnerability—often tied to the trauma of the 1947 Partition riots that Mehta witnessed as a young man in Bombay (now Mumbai), as well as broader existential and societal anguish in post-independence India
1
1956
2025 SOLD for INR 62 crores (worth US$ 7.3M) by Saffronart
After a visit to a slaughterhouse in Mumbai, the bull bound for being butchered becomes for Tyeb Mehta a symbol of the horrible human oppression during the bloody riots of the Indian partition.
A Trussed Bull painted in 1956 is his first major painting on that subject, inspired from an Egyptian bas relief exhibited in London at the British Museum. His realistic figuration expresses the resilience of the powerful beast. It is made in colored impastos limited by thick black lines.
This oil on canvas 94 x 105 cm was sold for INR 62 crores worth US $ 7.3M from a lower estimate of INR 5 crores by Saffronart on April 2, 2025, lot 13.
On the same theme, Mehta executed an award winning film in a slaughterhouse in 1970.
Please watch the video shared by the auction house, taking the opportunity of one of the latest works by Mehta in the same sale for offering an overall review of his oeuvre. The 2006 painting was sold for INR 9 crores, lot 15.
A Trussed Bull painted in 1956 is his first major painting on that subject, inspired from an Egyptian bas relief exhibited in London at the British Museum. His realistic figuration expresses the resilience of the powerful beast. It is made in colored impastos limited by thick black lines.
This oil on canvas 94 x 105 cm was sold for INR 62 crores worth US $ 7.3M from a lower estimate of INR 5 crores by Saffronart on April 2, 2025, lot 13.
On the same theme, Mehta executed an award winning film in a slaughterhouse in 1970.
Please watch the video shared by the auction house, taking the opportunity of one of the latest works by Mehta in the same sale for offering an overall review of his oeuvre. The 2006 painting was sold for INR 9 crores, lot 15.
2
1956 Trussed Bull (another example)
2025 SOLD for INR 56 crores (worth US$ 6.4M) by Saffronart
Another opus from the same 1956 Trussed Bull series displays in nearly abstract color fields the thrown down beast in contortion on the ground before the slaughter. A hind leg is tied to the head.
This oil on canvas 92 x 128 cm was sold for INR 56 crores worth US $ 6.4M from a lower estimate of INR 5 crores by Saffronart on September 27, 2025, lot 16. It indeed features the frustrating inability of India to break away from its worst impulses.
This oil on canvas 92 x 128 cm was sold for INR 56 crores worth US $ 6.4M from a lower estimate of INR 5 crores by Saffronart on September 27, 2025, lot 16. It indeed features the frustrating inability of India to break away from its worst impulses.
later series
3
1973 Diagonal
2025 SOLD for INR 58 crores (worth US$ 6.4M) by AstaGuru
Details on Tyeb Mehta's Untitled (Diagonal) (1973, oil on canvas)
This large-scale oil on canvas from Tyeb Mehta's groundbreaking Diagonal series (70 x 60 inches / 177.8 x 152.4 cm) is a landmark work from 1973, signed and dated 'Tyeb 73' on the verso. It exemplifies the pivotal shift in Mehta's practice during the early 1970s, where the diagonal motif—born from a moment of frustration in which he slashed paint across a canvas—became the defining structural element. The composition features a sharp, dynamic diagonal line (often a vivid green or contrasting slash) that bisects the canvas into large, flat, unmodulated color planes of high-contrast hues (e.g., reds, blues, yellows, or greens against neutrals). This creates intense spatial tension, fragmentation, and vibration, while suspending or anchoring a distorted human figure (typically levitating or poised in anguish) within the planes.
The diagonal is not merely formal but deeply symbolic: it represents rupture, division, and existential tension—echoing Mehta's themes of trauma, violence, and composure amid chaos (influenced by Partition experiences and earlier expressionist works). By 1973, the motif had matured from its origins into a "primary pillar" of his ideation, allowing greater emphasis on color purity, form, and space without traditional perspective. The figure here is rendered with Mehta's characteristic distortion—elongated limbs, simplified anatomy—yet placed with deliberate poise, evoking a sense of suspended equilibrium. This work is described as large-scale (nearly 6 feet), fresh to market at the time, and a defining example of his mature style, where the diagonal liberates his expression from earlier impasto-heavy approaches.
Auction Attributes: AstaGuru Masters Legacy Auction, April 23–24, 2025
This large-scale oil on canvas from Tyeb Mehta's groundbreaking Diagonal series (70 x 60 inches / 177.8 x 152.4 cm) is a landmark work from 1973, signed and dated 'Tyeb 73' on the verso. It exemplifies the pivotal shift in Mehta's practice during the early 1970s, where the diagonal motif—born from a moment of frustration in which he slashed paint across a canvas—became the defining structural element. The composition features a sharp, dynamic diagonal line (often a vivid green or contrasting slash) that bisects the canvas into large, flat, unmodulated color planes of high-contrast hues (e.g., reds, blues, yellows, or greens against neutrals). This creates intense spatial tension, fragmentation, and vibration, while suspending or anchoring a distorted human figure (typically levitating or poised in anguish) within the planes.
The diagonal is not merely formal but deeply symbolic: it represents rupture, division, and existential tension—echoing Mehta's themes of trauma, violence, and composure amid chaos (influenced by Partition experiences and earlier expressionist works). By 1973, the motif had matured from its origins into a "primary pillar" of his ideation, allowing greater emphasis on color purity, form, and space without traditional perspective. The figure here is rendered with Mehta's characteristic distortion—elongated limbs, simplified anatomy—yet placed with deliberate poise, evoking a sense of suspended equilibrium. This work is described as large-scale (nearly 6 feet), fresh to market at the time, and a defining example of his mature style, where the diagonal liberates his expression from earlier impasto-heavy approaches.
Auction Attributes: AstaGuru Masters Legacy Auction, April 23–24, 2025
- Auction House: AstaGuru (Mumbai-based premier online platform for Indian modern and contemporary art).
- Sale: Masters Legacy: Modern Indian Art (a flagship two-day live/online auction highlighting seminal modernist works).
- Lot Number: 18 (prominent placement; highlighted in pre-auction promotions and catalogue as a key lot).
- Pre-Auction Estimate: ₹35,00,00,000 – ₹45,00,00,000 (~$4.27–5.49 million USD at the time).
- Realized Price: ₹57,96,79,642 (inclusive of buyer's premium/margin), equivalent to approximately $6.8 million USD (some reports cite ₹58–59.15 crore range, depending on final premium calculations and exchange rates). Hammer price was strong, exceeding the high estimate.
- Performance: This set a then-record or near-record for Mehta (second-highest overall, behind his 2025 Trussed Bull at ~$7.27 million later that month). It outperformed expectations amid a hot market for 1970s Diagonal works, which are rare (fewer than ~60 known examples total). The sale underscored the premium on Mehta's mature period and the series' academic and collector appeal.
- Provenance: Property from a private collection based in Mumbai; acquired directly from the artist (strong, direct-line ownership adding desirability).
- Additional Context: The auction achieved strong overall results, with high sell-through and emphasis on Mehta's transformative Diagonal innovation. Artnet and other sources confirmed the outcome in mid-2025 market recaps, positioning it as a top price in his oeuvre.
4
1977 Untitled Figure (Gesture)
2025 SOLD for INR 53.5 crores by AstaGuru
In the mid-to-late 1970s, Tyeb Mehta developed the Gesture series as an extension of his Diagonal phase (1969–1976), where sharp bisecting lines and flat color planes fragmented the human form to evoke existential rupture, discomfort, and loss of identity. These works feature distorted, often androgynous or asexual figures caught in dynamic yet frozen poses—limbs elongated, multiplied, or unspooled—conveying shock, ecstasy, or anguish without narrative specificity. Influenced by international abstraction (Barnett Newman's color fields, Mondrian's simplicity) yet rooted in Mehta's humanist concerns, the series translates physical abnormality into profound psychological tension. Gestures become symbolic acts of fragmentation and striving, bridging his earlier expressionism to the more mythological abstractions of the 1980s–2000s post-Santiniketan residency.
A monumental example in oil on canvas (59 x 47 in / 150 x 119.4 cm, signed and dated 'Tyeb 77' on the reverse), sold as Lot 21 in AstaGuru's Historic Masterpieces auction (December 13–16, 2025) for ₹53,54,25,000 (inclusive of buyer's premium/margin), far exceeding its estimate of ₹30–40 crore. It achieved one of Mehta's highest auction results to date, reflecting surging demand for his 1970s masterpieces.
The painting depicts a central dismembered female figure in warm, saturated tones (ochres, reds) against cool planar backgrounds, suspended in a state of shock or ecstasy. Limbs unravel gently, anchored by a slashing black diagonal bar that heightens asymmetry and tension. A small red bird-like form emits flames nearby, adding a layer of dynamic energy amid stasis. The composition exemplifies Mehta's mature command: flawless flat planes, decisive contours, and psychological depth—distilling human anguish into elegant abstraction.
A monumental example in oil on canvas (59 x 47 in / 150 x 119.4 cm, signed and dated 'Tyeb 77' on the reverse), sold as Lot 21 in AstaGuru's Historic Masterpieces auction (December 13–16, 2025) for ₹53,54,25,000 (inclusive of buyer's premium/margin), far exceeding its estimate of ₹30–40 crore. It achieved one of Mehta's highest auction results to date, reflecting surging demand for his 1970s masterpieces.
The painting depicts a central dismembered female figure in warm, saturated tones (ochres, reds) against cool planar backgrounds, suspended in a state of shock or ecstasy. Limbs unravel gently, anchored by a slashing black diagonal bar that heightens asymmetry and tension. A small red bird-like form emits flames nearby, adding a layer of dynamic energy amid stasis. The composition exemplifies Mehta's mature command: flawless flat planes, decisive contours, and psychological depth—distilling human anguish into elegant abstraction.
5
1999 Bull on a Rickshaw
2022 SOLD for $ 5.6M (worth INR 42 crores) by Saffronart
Untitled (Bull on Rickshaw) (1999, acrylic on canvas, 69 x 59.25 in) stands out as a late synthesis of Mehta's obsessions: the trussed bull (bound and helpless) loaded onto a rickshaw (another recurring motif symbolizing urban labor, entrapment, and the "aching extension" of the human body). The dynamic composition fuses animal and human struggle in a large-scale format, with bold color planes and strong contours creating tension and motion. It achieved a then-record ₹41.97 crore (~$5.6 million) at Saffronart on April 6, 2022, lot 46, underscoring its rarity and appeal as a "celebration" of his iconic subjects.
Details on Tyeb Mehta's Untitled (Bull on Rickshaw) (1999)
This large-scale acrylic on canvas painting (69 x 59.25 inches / 175.3 x 150.2 cm) is a late-period masterwork by Tyeb Mehta, signed and dated 'Tyeb 99' on the reverse. It represents a rare and powerful convergence of several of Mehta's most iconic recurring motifs: the trussed bull (symbolizing vulnerability, suffering, bondage, and existential anguish, often drawn from his early observations of slaughterhouses and themes of subjugation), the rickshaw puller (evoking urban labor, human-animal yoking, and social disparity), and elements of dynamic urban tension. The composition depicts a writhing, bound bull loaded onto a rickshaw, with the puller figure integrated into the scene—conveying a sense of shared entrapment, raw energy, and the brutality of existence. This synthesis of Mehta's lifelong obsessions (bull as victim, human struggle, and fractured forms) makes it an "exceptionally rare" celebration of his thematic continuity in a grand, late-career format.
The work exemplifies Mehta's mature style: bold, flat color planes, strong contours, and a sense of suspended motion, rendered in his characteristic high-contrast palette to heighten emotional impact. It stands out as one of the few large canvases from 1999 that combine these elements so dramatically, and it was positioned as a highlight in pre-auction promotions for its "unparalleled" potency.
Details on Tyeb Mehta's Untitled (Bull on Rickshaw) (1999)
This large-scale acrylic on canvas painting (69 x 59.25 inches / 175.3 x 150.2 cm) is a late-period masterwork by Tyeb Mehta, signed and dated 'Tyeb 99' on the reverse. It represents a rare and powerful convergence of several of Mehta's most iconic recurring motifs: the trussed bull (symbolizing vulnerability, suffering, bondage, and existential anguish, often drawn from his early observations of slaughterhouses and themes of subjugation), the rickshaw puller (evoking urban labor, human-animal yoking, and social disparity), and elements of dynamic urban tension. The composition depicts a writhing, bound bull loaded onto a rickshaw, with the puller figure integrated into the scene—conveying a sense of shared entrapment, raw energy, and the brutality of existence. This synthesis of Mehta's lifelong obsessions (bull as victim, human struggle, and fractured forms) makes it an "exceptionally rare" celebration of his thematic continuity in a grand, late-career format.
The work exemplifies Mehta's mature style: bold, flat color planes, strong contours, and a sense of suspended motion, rendered in his characteristic high-contrast palette to heighten emotional impact. It stands out as one of the few large canvases from 1999 that combine these elements so dramatically, and it was positioned as a highlight in pre-auction promotions for its "unparalleled" potency.
GAITONDE
See dedicated page :
RAZA
1
1959 Kallisté
2024 SOLD for $ 5.6M by Sotheby's
The son of a forest ranger, Sayed Haider Raza will keep throughout his life the impression of the promise of dawn, a transition between the terror of the night and the bright colors of the day.
Raza arrives in Paris in 1950 to finish his art studies and to immerse himself with modern Western painting. He is very early attracted by the charm of Provence. The landscapes of his early career are not located, mixing the feelings of his native Madhya Pradesh and of Provence with hills, villages and horizons. The explosion of colors in a heavy impasto already dominates the shapes. After van Gogh he expresses the relationship between humans and ground.
Gradually the juxtaposition of colors cancels the line and the atmosphere supersedes the topography. The artist likes these landscapes half in the shade that reveal the varieties of colors of the agrarian plots in contrast with the first or last sun rays on churches and houses. In this early phase of his art the specific structure of the villages nestled in the hills of Provence is easily identifiable.
The trend to abstraction increases in the later 1950s. Kallisté displays vibrant red, yellow and orange as lit at dawn over a background made of the night blue of the sky and the green of the fields. The overall composition reminds a village but no architectural element remains. The title, away from any topographical allusion, is indeed the Greek mythological word for the utmost beauty.
Kallisté, oil on canvas 160 x 128 cm painted in 1959, was sold for $ 5.6M from a lower estimate of $ 2M by Sotheby's on March 18, 2024, lot 117.
In the same year, Raza's marriage after a decade long dating is a mark of an increased maturity.
At the same time Joan Mitchell was similarly inspired by the bright spots of the French countryside.
Raza arrives in Paris in 1950 to finish his art studies and to immerse himself with modern Western painting. He is very early attracted by the charm of Provence. The landscapes of his early career are not located, mixing the feelings of his native Madhya Pradesh and of Provence with hills, villages and horizons. The explosion of colors in a heavy impasto already dominates the shapes. After van Gogh he expresses the relationship between humans and ground.
Gradually the juxtaposition of colors cancels the line and the atmosphere supersedes the topography. The artist likes these landscapes half in the shade that reveal the varieties of colors of the agrarian plots in contrast with the first or last sun rays on churches and houses. In this early phase of his art the specific structure of the villages nestled in the hills of Provence is easily identifiable.
The trend to abstraction increases in the later 1950s. Kallisté displays vibrant red, yellow and orange as lit at dawn over a background made of the night blue of the sky and the green of the fields. The overall composition reminds a village but no architectural element remains. The title, away from any topographical allusion, is indeed the Greek mythological word for the utmost beauty.
Kallisté, oil on canvas 160 x 128 cm painted in 1959, was sold for $ 5.6M from a lower estimate of $ 2M by Sotheby's on March 18, 2024, lot 117.
In the same year, Raza's marriage after a decade long dating is a mark of an increased maturity.
At the same time Joan Mitchell was similarly inspired by the bright spots of the French countryside.
2
1961 Paysage Agreste
2024 SOLD for € 4.7M by Métayer Mermoz
Paysage Agreste was painted in 1961 by Raza in a similar composition as the 1959 Kallisté sold for $ 5.6M by Sotheby's in 2024. Its title meaning rustic landscape confirms the interpretation that the bright abstract spots represent the fields.
This oil on canvas 120 x 200 cm in thick impasto inspired by the hills of Provence had been treasured since the mid 1960s by a couple of collectors who had a residence in the Riviera. It was sold in Antibes from their estate for € 4.7M from a lower estimate of € 400K by Métayer Mermoz on March 17, 2024, lot 31.
SH Raza expresses the mystery of the soil. In the early 1970s he dares to address the dangers of the night. On March 21, 2018, Christie's sold for $ 4.45M Tapovan, acrylic on canvas 160 x 189 cm painted in 1972, lot 222.
Tapovan is a Sanskrit word used in yoga, mixing the ideas of meditation and forest. Glowing red areas and bright yellow sparks dot the night scene. A careful inspection suggests the appearance of faces within flames and embers, not without evoking the expressive schematization of his fellow F.N. Souza.
If this interpretation is correct, it is exceptionally rare in Raza's usually dehumanized art and brings Tapovan closer to the primordial questions of the wild tribes and of Gauguin : D'où venons-nous ? Qui sommes-nous ? Où allons-nous ? And also : who are these spirits of the night ?
Raza will soon find an answer to this anxiety. An admirer of Rothko, he will systematize the inclusion of his abstract forms into a structure which in his case begins as a window. He abandons the night but not the ground.
The essential theme of Raza remains forever Earth, which interacts with mankind while transcending the physical and mystical forces. In an earlier phase he had been a landscape painter. The light of dawn playing behind the hills to illuminate the village fascinates him. Gradually the trace of man is no longer useful.
The bright lights of the transition between night and day are not enough to express his philosophical quest. Joining Pollock, his actual subject is the proper life of the soil.
Later, Raza discovered how geometry can express the energy. He will forget the night, and his colors become clearer. His quest will more rely upon the principles of Hindu philosophy. The Earth as the unique support of our relationship with the universe remains however implicit in his work. He gives the main role to the essential form, the bindu.
SH Raza expresses the Earth as the source and support of life. La Terre (a generic French title given by the artist) is one of the guidelines of his entire work.
In the 1970s he makes frequent and long stays in India to seek the source of his emotions. When he reconnects with the beloved forests of his childhood in Madhya Pradesh, his art becomes abstract.
On March 18, 2014, Christie's sold for $ 3.1M La Terre, acrylic on canvas 189 x 189 cm. Painted in 1973, this work did not yet open the great transition of the art of Raza. Rather, it is the ultimate culmination of his landscapes becoming totally abstract while keeping the memory of the sparkling dawn.
This oil on canvas 120 x 200 cm in thick impasto inspired by the hills of Provence had been treasured since the mid 1960s by a couple of collectors who had a residence in the Riviera. It was sold in Antibes from their estate for € 4.7M from a lower estimate of € 400K by Métayer Mermoz on March 17, 2024, lot 31.
SH Raza expresses the mystery of the soil. In the early 1970s he dares to address the dangers of the night. On March 21, 2018, Christie's sold for $ 4.45M Tapovan, acrylic on canvas 160 x 189 cm painted in 1972, lot 222.
Tapovan is a Sanskrit word used in yoga, mixing the ideas of meditation and forest. Glowing red areas and bright yellow sparks dot the night scene. A careful inspection suggests the appearance of faces within flames and embers, not without evoking the expressive schematization of his fellow F.N. Souza.
If this interpretation is correct, it is exceptionally rare in Raza's usually dehumanized art and brings Tapovan closer to the primordial questions of the wild tribes and of Gauguin : D'où venons-nous ? Qui sommes-nous ? Où allons-nous ? And also : who are these spirits of the night ?
Raza will soon find an answer to this anxiety. An admirer of Rothko, he will systematize the inclusion of his abstract forms into a structure which in his case begins as a window. He abandons the night but not the ground.
The essential theme of Raza remains forever Earth, which interacts with mankind while transcending the physical and mystical forces. In an earlier phase he had been a landscape painter. The light of dawn playing behind the hills to illuminate the village fascinates him. Gradually the trace of man is no longer useful.
The bright lights of the transition between night and day are not enough to express his philosophical quest. Joining Pollock, his actual subject is the proper life of the soil.
Later, Raza discovered how geometry can express the energy. He will forget the night, and his colors become clearer. His quest will more rely upon the principles of Hindu philosophy. The Earth as the unique support of our relationship with the universe remains however implicit in his work. He gives the main role to the essential form, the bindu.
SH Raza expresses the Earth as the source and support of life. La Terre (a generic French title given by the artist) is one of the guidelines of his entire work.
In the 1970s he makes frequent and long stays in India to seek the source of his emotions. When he reconnects with the beloved forests of his childhood in Madhya Pradesh, his art becomes abstract.
On March 18, 2014, Christie's sold for $ 3.1M La Terre, acrylic on canvas 189 x 189 cm. Painted in 1973, this work did not yet open the great transition of the art of Raza. Rather, it is the ultimate culmination of his landscapes becoming totally abstract while keeping the memory of the sparkling dawn.
From 1980 he is inspired by the Hindu philosophy in a quest for the creation of the world, beyond the simple balance of the elements. His non-figurative art now incorporates various geometric symbols. The artist compares his paintings to temples, designed to offer to the visitor a mystical ecstasy.
In the 1980s, contrasts of light and topographic details have vanished. Lines that are often parallel form a sort of oblique floor as if the artist saw it fleeing from his feet in a false perspective.
His paintings display the harmony of the warm undertones of the earth in burnt sienna, yellow ocher, red, brown and green.
On June 10, 2010, Christie's sold for £ 2.4M Saurashtra, 200 x 200 cm, painted in 1983 in a range of glowing colors. This geographic title confirms that Raza's mysticism remains attached to the physical beauty of the Indian landscapes.
An example of La Terre executed in same technique and size in 1985 was sold for $ 1.93M by Christie's on September 15, 2010, lot 323, and for £ 3.3M by Bonhams on December 10, 2024, lot 7. It mingles full and empty triangles in various sizes within a perfect overall square format.
La Terre, acrylic on canvas 162 x 178 cm painted in 1986, has a similar inspiration. It is centered with a big black spot that opens a gaping path to the Hindu wisdom. It was sold for $ 1.36M by Saffronart on September 4, 2014, lot 15.
Terra Amata, acrylic on canvas 175 x 150 cm painted in 1984, marked both a step forward in the quest of the roots of mankind and a come back to southern France. One of the earliest evidences of fire control, 400,000 years ago, was found in the so-named archaeological site near Nice. The composition alternates light and dark. It was sold for £ 2.5M by Sotheby's on September 26, 2024, lot 12.
In the 1980s, contrasts of light and topographic details have vanished. Lines that are often parallel form a sort of oblique floor as if the artist saw it fleeing from his feet in a false perspective.
His paintings display the harmony of the warm undertones of the earth in burnt sienna, yellow ocher, red, brown and green.
On June 10, 2010, Christie's sold for £ 2.4M Saurashtra, 200 x 200 cm, painted in 1983 in a range of glowing colors. This geographic title confirms that Raza's mysticism remains attached to the physical beauty of the Indian landscapes.
An example of La Terre executed in same technique and size in 1985 was sold for $ 1.93M by Christie's on September 15, 2010, lot 323, and for £ 3.3M by Bonhams on December 10, 2024, lot 7. It mingles full and empty triangles in various sizes within a perfect overall square format.
La Terre, acrylic on canvas 162 x 178 cm painted in 1986, has a similar inspiration. It is centered with a big black spot that opens a gaping path to the Hindu wisdom. It was sold for $ 1.36M by Saffronart on September 4, 2014, lot 15.
Terra Amata, acrylic on canvas 175 x 150 cm painted in 1984, marked both a step forward in the quest of the roots of mankind and a come back to southern France. One of the earliest evidences of fire control, 400,000 years ago, was found in the so-named archaeological site near Nice. The composition alternates light and dark. It was sold for £ 2.5M by Sotheby's on September 26, 2024, lot 12.
