In 1962, he combines this new technique with pseudo-calligraphic signs affixed with the knife. This proto-writing is contemporary to the observations of the Roman graffiti by Twombly. On March 19, 2014, Sotheby's sold for $ 2.5 million including premium Painting No. 3 by Gaitonde.
I do not know if Gaitonde ever met Twombly but it is certain that he visited Rothko around that period. Among the abstract expressionists, Mark Rothko is the artist who went the furthest in the enchantment of the viewer by the balance between colors. It is not surprising that he was able to influence the young Hindu artist in his search of Zen.
Painted in 1962 by Gaitonde, an oil on canvas 127 x 77 cm sold for $ 970K including premium by Sotheby's on March 19, 2013 can be reinterpreted as the addition of the pseudo-Zen semiotics over a structure of colors imitating Rothko.
This relationship becomes obvious within an oil on canvas 114 x 97 cm painted by Gaitonde in 1963, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on March 18, lot 1326 estimated $ 1.5M. The orange-brown harmony is very similar to a composition made by Rothko in the same year, according to the convincing demonstration offered by the auction house in their catalog.