Amrita Sher-Gil's art fetches Rs 37.8 cr, becomes 2nd most expensive by an Indian

A 1938 painting by Amrita Sher-Gil, In the Ladies’ Enclosure from 1938, has become the second-most expensive artwork by an Indian on Tuesday after it fetched Rs 37.8 crore at auction house Saffronart’s sale in Mumbai.

“It is a rare work of the artist from that particular period to emerge in the art market… Sher-Gil painted this work (In the Ladies’ Enclosure) in the final years of her brief but exceptional life,” Saffronart CEO and co-founder Dinesh Vazirani told The Indian Express.

“The record-breaking sale was a clear indication of Sher-Gil’s artistic merit,” he added.

It is an oil painting on canvas measuring 21.5 x 31.5 inches. The painting has a group of women with a dog beside a hibiscus bush and a bride in the middle. In the background, some women carrying pots are also featured.

Sher-Gil’s previous record was Rs 18.7 crore for The Little Girl in Blue (1934) at Sotheby’s auction in Mumbai in 2018. The most expensive art by an Indian artist is V S Gaitonde’s Untitled (1961) which was sold for Rs 39.98 crore in March this year at Saffronart.

Sher-Gil has been recognised as a “National Treasure” by the Indian government. This recognition makes it illegal to take her art out of the country. She was an Indo-Hungarian artist who died at the age of 28 in 1941.

In Sher-Gil’s previous paintings like Bride’s Toilet (1937) and Village Scene (1938), groups of women like this painting have been spotted. These women seem to be preoccupied with their own thoughts. As of now, 68 artworks of Sher-Gil have been auctioned off for Rs 193.1 crore in total.

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