Amrita Sher-Gil's The Story Teller fetches record ₹61.8 cr

An Amrita Sher-Gil painting titled The Story Teller, signed and dated 1937, fetched a staggering ₹61.8 crore, etching its name in history as the most expensive Indian artwork to be auctioned

- Varuni Khosla

 

The oil-on-canvas masterpiece set a new record, surpassing the previous one from a Pundole’s auction house earlier this month when Sayed Haider Raza’s Gestation sold for ₹51.75 crore, including the buyer’s fee.

The auction by SaffronArt at The Oberoi, New Delhi, generated over ₹181 crore in total for the gallery, marking the creation of two other art records.

“The sale of this particular work is an important milestone in the market. However, equally important, is the work itself—it is an exceptional painting as a cornerstone in Sher-Gil’s work as such. She is one of India’s national art treasures, and this type of work is quite rare to come across for sale," said Minal Vazirani, the auction house’s co-founder.