One of India’s most celebrated artists, Amrita Sher-Gil’s painting has attained the status of the most expensive work of an Indian artist ever sold. The painting titled “The Story Teller” has fetched 6,9 million Euro at Saffronart’s “Evening Sale: Modern Art” in New Delhi.
Made in 1937, Amrita Sher-Gil’s oil on canvas “The Story Teller” has unseated Sayed Haider Raza’s “Gestation” in becoming the most expensive painting of an Indian sold at an auction worldwide.
Sher-Gil is one of the greatest avant-garde painters of the early 20th century. Her painting “The Story Teller” is among the 70 plus art pieces by eminent artists including MF Husain, VS Gaitonde, Jamini Roy and FS Souza, featured in the auction.
“We are delighted to have set multiple artist records at our Evening Sale in New Delhithis September,” said Dinesh Vazirani, CEO and co-founder of Saffronart in a press statement. “Most significantly, the record price achieved by Amrita Sher-Gil’s ‘The Story Teller’ is an important milestone in the Indian art market and a testament to the artist’s immense skill and enduring legacy as one of India’s art treasures,” he added.
“The Story Teller” — touted to be one of Sher-Gil’s most important works, is a perfect example of the artist’s raw and expressive compositions.The dominant themes for the renowned artist are primarily women as she could most easily relate to their condition. Her other well-known portraits of women are “Three Girls”, “Women on the Charpai”, “Hill Women, and “Young Girls”.
Born in Budapest to an Indian father and a Hungarian mother, Sher-Gil showed a pique interest in painting and drawing at the mere age of five. In her early works using watercolours, she showcases the vibrant illustrations of Hungarian fairy tales with vivid characters. In 1921, the Sher-Gil family returned to India and settled in Shimla. Sher-Gil died in 1941, at the young age of 28.
Image : The Story Teller by Amrita Sher-Gil. (Source: Saffronart/Twitter)
Anna Melnykova, "Palace of Labor (palats praci), architector I. Pretro, 1916", shot with analog Canon camera, 35 mm Fuji film in March 2022.
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