Raja Ravi Varma's oil painting 'Yashoda and Krishna' sells for record ₹167.2 crore

E-PaperSubscribeSubscribeEnjoy unlimited accessSubscribe Now! Get features like New Delhi : A 35 x 28.25-inch oil painting by Raja Ravi Varma sold for ₹167.2 crore at the Saffronart spring auction on Wednesday, making it the costliest Indian painting to be sold in an auction till date. Titled Yashoda and Krishna, the work was made by the feted Indian artist in the 1890s and bears his signature. “It shows the immense value of our culture, and the lengths that collectors are willing to go to acquire such a work,” Dinesh Vazirani, co-founder and CEO of Saffronart said after the sale. The Raja Ravi Varma work sale surpassed the record by ₹49.2 crore — an increase of over 40%. (PTI/Representational Image)Vazirani declined to comment on the identity of the buyer. However, Raja Ravi Varma’s works are classified as national treasures and are thus non-exportable, making the buyer an Indian collector. Also read: Step inside this mountain-themed, wheelchair-friendly home in Karnal, Haryana, that blends design with accessibility “This is a defining moment for the Indian art market. Raja Ravi Varma’s Yashoda and Krishna — a universal subject reminiscent as much of Madonna and Christ, or of any mother and child, and arguably the most iconic and desirable work, the Mona Lisa of Indian art — has not only achieved a new world record, it has done so with conviction, more than doubling its lower estimate of ₹80 crore, exceeding it by ₹87.2 crore — an increase of over 100%,” said Ashish Anand, MD and CEO of DAG (formerly Delhi Art Gallery). Also read: Wish you were here: Inside Unesco’s virtual museum of stolen cultural objects Last March, a work by Maqbool Fida Husain sold for a record $13.7 million (approximately ₹118.7 crore) at a Christie’s South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art auction in New York setting the world record for Indian art. The Raja Ravi Varma work sale surpassed the record by ₹49.2 crore — an increase of over 40%.