How Indian art braved two wars, one pandemic

Vaccine king Cyrus Poonawalla bagged Raja Ravi Varma’s Yashoda & Krishna with a ₹67.2 crore bid on 1 April, setting a new record and proving that modern Indian art retains its shine even in the backdrop of uncertainty and war.

- Varuni Khosla, Sneha Shah & Devina Sengupta

The auction of the late-19th-century oil painting demolished the previous record set by MF Husain's Untitled (Gram Yatra) last year, when it was sold to philanthropist Kiran Nadar for about ₹18 crore. The sale, conducted by Mumbai-based auction house Saffronart, reflected the current dynamics of the art market, where competitive buying has remained resilient, with collectors increasingly treating art as an appreciating asset alongside real estate and precious metals.

India's secondary art market has seen remarkable resilience over the last few years, weathering a pandemic and two major wars. It swelled from around $120 million in 2019 to an estimated $150 million in 2022, a Saffronart executive earlier said, citing industry estimates. It grew further to about $192.7 million in 2025, and in the first half of 2026 alone, the market has already recorded sales worth $175 million (₹1,530 crore), according to data from technology-driven art platform AsignArt.