Delhi turns vibrant as India Art Fair attracts collectors

The 16th India Art Fair 2025, which held its biggest edition yet with 120 exhibitors, including 22 international institutions and galleries, saw some brisk sales over the course of its four-day event that concluded on Sunday.

- Dhamini Ratnam

NEW DELHI:

Carpenters Workshop Gallery, an international gallery with outposts in Paris, New York, Los Angeles and London, which made its debut at the Art Fair last year, made sales worth $600,000 (nearly ₹5.3 crore), a fair representative said.

The gallery showed 12 artists including the late German fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld—whose monochromatic functional sculptures made in marble were first exhibited a year before he died—as well as pieces by Sebastian Brajkovic and French textile artist Simone Prouve.

David Zwirner, another international gallery with outposts in London, Hong Kong, New York, Los Angeles, sold works by Kerala-based painter Sosa Joseph and Zimbabwean painter Portia Zvavahera as well as Pakistani-American sculptor Huma Bhabha and Colombian artist Oscar Murillo, the latter two of whom made their debut at the fair.

Senior Director of the London gallery James Green said the sales ranged from $12,000 (₹10.5 lakh) to $450,000 (nearly ₹4 crore).

Among the Indian galleries, Delhi-based Vadehra Gallery sold 90% of their booth on the first day, with prices ranging from $3,000 (₹2.6 lakh) to $300,000 (₹22.6 crore), gallery director Roshini Vadehra said.