Gaitonde’s painting fetches record-breaking Rs.23.70 crore at Christie’s first India auction


Modernist painter VS Gaitonde was one of the most finest and cloistered abstract painter of India. He trialled with form and shape in his art, which invoke a concealed and obscure description of the real world. He was appreciated recently, as one of his timeless pieces was honoured at the first ever Christie’s sale in India.

The London- based auction house, hosted its first international auction and saw 83 lots go under the hammer. Gaitonde’s 1979 work was part of Christie’s inaugural sale in India on 19 December that raised $15.6 million, more than twice the high pre-sale estimate of $8 million. More than 10 buyers competed for the untitled oil-on-canvas abstract painting during almost seven minutes of bidding, before the hammer went down to a US-based client.

Earlier in June this year, a recently discovered masterpiece by Gaitonde, who passed away in 2001 in New Delhi, fetched over Rs. 6 crore topping the Modern and Contemporary auction by Sotheby’s in London. The inaugural auction includes works from the personal collection of the late Kekoo and Khorshed Gandhy, who owned a Mumbai framing shop-turned-gallery and were personal friends with many of the giants of the modern art scene. Among their works for sale was a 1991 painting by Tyeb Mehta.

[Via – Live-Mint]

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