At ₹67 cr, Gaitonde becomes India's 2nd-costliest artwork

Saffronart's anniversary auction fetches ₹355.77 crore, highest for South Asian art globally

- VEENU SANDHU

Calendar 2025 is turning out to be a year of records for Indian art. At Saffronart's 25th Anniversary Evening Sale, which concluded on Saturday (September 27) in New Delhi, VS Gaitonde's untitled painting from 1970 went for ₹67.08 crore ($7.57 million), making it the second most expensive work of Indian art sold worldwide — and setting a world record for the highest price achieved by the artist at auction globally.

The reclusive Gaitonde surpassed Amrita Sher-Gil’s The Story Teller (1937) and Tyeb Mehta’s Trussed Bull (1956), which were until now tied as the second most expensive Indian artworks. Both had gone for ₹61.8 crore (approximately $7.4 million) at past Saffronart auctions — the Sher-Gil in 2023 and Mehta in April this year.

“Gaitonde is bound to break records,” Saffronart CEO and Co-Founder Dinesh Vazirani said while speaking to Business Standard. “He wasn’t very prolific, and his paintings are tough to come by.”