Younger buyers fire up auctions of top Indian art

Indian art is having its breakout moment—and a new generation of collectors, curators and market makers is leading the charge.

- Varuni Khosla

In a matter of weeks, a trio of blockbuster art auctions across New York and Mumbai raked in more than ₹220 crore, with modern masters like M.F. Husain and Tyeb Mehta smashing records once reserved for Western icons.

The biggest headline came from Christie's in New York, where Husain's monumental Gram Yatra sold for ₹118 crore—the highest price ever paid for an Indian artwork. Not far behind, Mehta's Trussed Bull fetched ₹61.8 crore at Saffronart's Mumbai sale, nearly nine times its high estimate. At Sotheby's in New York, Jagdish Swaminathan's Homage to Solzhenitsyn crossed ₹39 crore.

After years of quiet momentum, India's art market has entered a new phase of global relevance—driven not just by wealth, but by strategic repositioning, institutional power, and a swelling wave of collectors who view art not just as culture, but as capital.

"The surge in demand is being driven by the onset of a new crop of collectors, not just the older well-heeled ones but even a younger lot who have equal love for the masters as well as the globally renowned lot of mid-career masters," said Delhi-based independent critic and curator Uma Nair.