Indian painter sets new record by selling painting for Rs 19Cr

Celebrated Indian painter Akbar Padamsee's 'Greek Landscape' has fetched a record Rs 19.19 crore at Saffronart's evening sale in New Delhi recently, making it the most expensive painting by the artist ever to sell at an auction.

"The 4.3 x 12 foot canvas, estimated at Rs 7-9 crore, succeeded in doubling its upper estimate. The winning bid surpassed the previous world record of Rs 9.3 crore, set by Sotheby's in 2011 for 'Reclining Nude'(1960)," Hugo Weihe, auctioneer and CEO of Saffronart, said in a statement, as reported by PTI.

Akbar's 'Greek Landscape' is one of his four works in grey to be offered at the auction. The 1960 imagined cityscape was painted in a palette of varying intensities of grey and is believed to have established him as a master. The artwork was first exhibited at the Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai, where it received great praise for its revolutionary approach and monumental scale.

The modern Indian art auction, which featured seminal works of revolutionary Indian artists from the post-Independence years, had a total of 87 lots from private collections, both across India and abroad, and achieved a total sale value of Rs 68.55 crore. The auction witnessed the sale of 79 percent of the lots.

Nasreen Mohamedi's 1960 oil on canvas and Gaganendranath Tagore's 'Ruben's Sketch Book' fetched Rs 2.4 crore and Rs 1.8 crore respectively, setting a world auction record for both artists. Among the top lots were V S Gaitonde's Untitled oil on canvas (1970), sold for Rs 10.12 crore; M F Husain's 'Dreams' (1979), sold for Rs 4.44 crore; and S H Raza's 'La Terre' (1986), which was sold for Rs 3.84 crore.

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