Ten years ago, a ₹30 crore Indian painting made front-page news. Today, that price would not even get a canvas into the top ten. The Indian art market has gone on a record-breaking run since 2023, and almost every big result has been rewritten in the last 18 months.
So which are the most expensive Indian paintings ever sold at public auction right now? Below is the full, updated list as of November 2026, with the price, the auction house, the date and the story behind each work. If you only have a minute, the quick answer is right below.
Quick Answer: The Top 10 at a Glance
- Raja Ravi Varma, Yashoda and Krishna (c. 1890s): about ₹167.2 crore, the all-time Indian auction record.
- M.F. Husain, Untitled (Gram Yatra) (1954): about ₹118 crore ($13.75 million) in New York.
- Tyeb Mehta, Rickshaw Puller (2002): about ₹69 crore, the newest entry, from October 2026.
- F.N. Souza, Houses in Hampstead (1962): about ₹67.5 crore (over $7.5 million) in London.
- V.S. Gaitonde, Untitled (1970): ₹67.08 crore, a world record for India’s great abstract painter.
- M.F. Husain, The Red Girl (1952): ₹65 crore, about 13 times its top estimate.
- Amrita Sher-Gil, The Story Teller (1937): ₹61.8 crore, the record for an Indian woman artist.
- Tyeb Mehta, Trussed Bull (1956): ₹61.8 crore, nearly nine times its higher estimate.
- F.N. Souza, Emperor (1957): about ₹61.6 crore (around $6.9 million) in London.
- Tyeb Mehta, Untitled (Diagonal) (1973): about ₹58 crore, Mehta’s third work in the top ten.
Indian Art Auction Records: Comparison Table
| Rank | Painting | Artist | Price (approx.) | Sold at |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yashoda and Krishna | Raja Ravi Varma | ₹167.2 cr | Saffronart, Mumbai, Apr 2026 |
| 2 | Untitled (Gram Yatra) | M.F. Husain | ₹118.6 cr | Christie’s, New York, Mar 2025 |
| 3 | Rickshaw Puller | Tyeb Mehta | ₹69 cr | Volte Una, Oct 2026 |
| 4 | Houses in Hampstead | F.N. Souza | ₹67.5 cr | Sotheby’s, London, Sep 2025 |
| 5 | Untitled | V.S. Gaitonde | ₹67.08 cr | Saffronart, New Delhi, Sep 2025 |
| 6 | The Red Girl | M.F. Husain | ₹65 cr | Pundole’s, Mumbai, Sep 2026 |
| 7 | The Story Teller | Amrita Sher-Gil | ₹61.8 cr | Saffronart, New Delhi, Sep 2023 |
| 8 | Trussed Bull | Tyeb Mehta | ₹61.8 cr | Saffronart, Mumbai, Apr 2025 |
| 9 | Emperor | F.N. Souza | ₹61.6 cr | Sotheby’s, London, Sep 2025 |
| 10 | Untitled (Diagonal) | Tyeb Mehta | ₹58 cr | AstaGuru, Mumbai, Apr 2025 |
1. Raja Ravi Varma, Yashoda and Krishna: The New All-Time Record
On 1 April 2026, this tender painting of Yashoda with the infant Krishna sold at Saffronart in Mumbai for about ₹167.2 crore, roughly $17.9 million with fees. It is now the most expensive Indian artwork ever sold at auction.
The pre-sale estimate was ₹80 to 120 crore, so even the experts were left behind. Saffronart said the buyer was Cyrus Poonawalla, founder of the Serum Institute of India.
Why it matters: for years, the top of the Indian market belonged to 20th-century modernists. Ravi Varma painted in the 1890s, and his images of gods and goddesses were printed on calendars that hung in millions of Indian homes. This sale showed that a 19th-century master can beat every modernist on price.
- Good to know: it more than doubled the previous Indian record set by Husain’s Gram Yatra.
2. M.F. Husain, Untitled (Gram Yatra): The Painting That Broke ₹100 Crore
Husain’s 1954 Gram Yatra (Village Pilgrimage) sold at Christie’s in New York on 19 March 2025 for $13.75 million, about ₹118 crore. Its estimate was just $2.5 to 3.5 million.
It is a huge, mural-like work made up of scenes from rural Indian life, painted only a few years after Independence. Christie’s called it the most expensive modern Indian artwork ever sold at public auction, beating Amrita Sher-Gil’s 2023 record.
The buyer was widely reported to be the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in Delhi, but this was never officially confirmed. Christie’s said only that it went to an institution.
For about a year, Gram Yatra was the first and only Indian painting past the ₹100 crore mark. It still holds the record for an Indian modernist.
3. Tyeb Mehta, Rickshaw Puller: The Newest Entry
Just weeks ago, in October 2026, Tyeb Mehta’s 2002 painting Rickshaw Puller sold for about ₹69 crore at the debut auction of Volte Una, a new single-lot auction platform run from Dubai. It is now the highest price ever paid for a Mehta.
The figure of a tired man, almost fused into his rickshaw, came from Mehta’s childhood memories of rickshaw pullers in Kolkata. It was a theme he kept going back to for decades, and you can see his late style here: flat planes of colour, sharp geometry and a lot of feeling in very few lines.
The sale also says something about the market. One painting, one auction, and the result still landed in the top three. Collectors clearly want museum-quality works by Indian modernists, and they will pay up when one appears.
4. F.N. Souza, Houses in Hampstead: A London Landscape Worth Crores
Goa-born Francis Newton Souza painted Houses in Hampstead in 1962, while living in London. At Sotheby’s London on 30 September 2025, it sold for over $7.5 million, roughly ₹67.5 crore, against an estimate of £800,000 to £1.2 million.
That is close to seven times the guide price, and a new auction record for Souza. Souza is famous for his fierce, thick-paint portraits, so it is a little surprising that his top work is a townscape. But his landscapes from this period, with their dark outlines and crowded houses, are rare and much loved by collectors.
Souza was a founder of the Progressive Artists’ Group in Bombay in 1947, alongside Raza and Husain. Two of that group’s members now sit in this top ten, with two works each.
5. V.S. Gaitonde, Untitled (1970): India’s Abstract Master
Vasudeo S. Gaitonde was famously private, painted slowly and did not like being called an abstract artist. His 1970 untitled oil sold for ₹67.08 crore (about $7.57 million) at Saffronart’s 25th Anniversary Evening Sale in New Delhi on 27 September 2025.
The estimate was ₹18 to 24 crore, so it sold for nearly three times the top figure. It set a world auction record for Gaitonde and, at the time, was the second most expensive Indian artwork ever sold.
That same evening, the sale took ₹355.77 crore in total, which Saffronart reported as the highest ever for a South Asian art auction. Not bad for a man whose record in 2005 was ₹92 lakh.
6. M.F. Husain, The Red Girl: Never Seen at Auction Before
The Red Girl, a 1952 oil on board about 48 by 24 inches, had never come up for auction until Pundole’s in Mumbai offered it in September 2026. It sold for ₹65 crore, about 13 times its top estimate of ₹5 crore.
That makes it Husain’s second most expensive work and, as Business Today reported, a record for a Husain sold at an auction in India. It is from the same early-1950s period as Gram Yatra, which collectors now see as Husain’s best years.
- Why it’s here: fresh-to-market works with strong history tend to spark bidding wars, and this result proves it.
7. Amrita Sher-Gil, The Story Teller: The Record for a Woman Artist
Amrita Sher-Gil died in 1941 at just 28, yet she is still one of the most valued Indian artists. The Story Teller, painted in 1937, sold at Saffronart in New Delhi on 16 September 2023 for ₹61.8 crore, about $7.4 million.
At the time, it was the most expensive Indian painting ever sold. It held that crown until Gram Yatra in March 2025, and it remains the highest auction price for any Indian woman artist.
The painting shows a group of women in a rural courtyard, in the warm earthy colours Sher-Gil used after she returned to India from Paris. Very few of her paintings exist, and many are held by the Indian government as national art treasures, which is a big reason her prices are so high.
8. Tyeb Mehta, Trussed Bull: The Bull That Started the Mehta Rally
Sold at Saffronart’s 25th Anniversary Live Sale in Mumbai on 2 April 2025, Trussed Bull fetched ₹61.8 crore (about $7.27 million). That was nearly nine times its higher estimate, and it exactly matched the price of The Story Teller.
Mehta painted it in 1956, during his early years in Bombay. A bound bull struggling against ropes is a powerful image, and many critics read it as a comment on the trauma of Partition and the hard life of the city.
Trussed Bull stayed Mehta’s personal record until Rickshaw Puller beat it in October 2026. The bull theme appears again and again in his work, so if you visit a museum show of his paintings, look out for it.
9. F.N. Souza, Emperor: Souza’s Bold Portrait Style
On the same September 2025 evening at Sotheby’s London, Souza’s 1957 Emperor also sold, for around $6.9 million, about ₹61.6 crore. Its estimate was £1 million to £1.5 million.
Emperor is the kind of painting Souza is best known for: a strong, distorted figure, built up with heavy paint and harsh lines. It is meant to unsettle you, and it does.
Two Souza works in the top ten from a single night shows how fast his market moved. Sotheby’s said the sale was its South Asian art department’s best total in 30 years.
10. Tyeb Mehta, Untitled (Diagonal): The Hard-Edged Mehta
AstaGuru sold Mehta’s 1973 Untitled (Diagonal) in Mumbai in April 2025 for about ₹57.97 crore, including the buyer’s margin. That gives Mehta three works in the top ten, more than any other Indian artist.
By the 1970s, Mehta had developed his “diagonal” device: a single line that cuts across the canvas and splits the figures. It creates tension and a feeling of things falling apart, and it is one of the most recognisable signatures in Indian modern art.
Mehta worked slowly and destroyed paintings he wasn’t happy with, so major oils by him are scarce. When one comes up, the bidding tends to be intense.
How We Picked This List
This list ranks paintings by Indian artists by their final public auction price in Indian rupees, including the buyer’s premium. We used results reported by the auction houses themselves (Saffronart, Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Pundole’s and AstaGuru) and cross-checked each one with at least two news reports from outlets such as The Art Newspaper, Business Today, ThePrint and The Wire.
Private sales are not included, because their prices are rarely made public. Sculptures and antiquities are left out too, since this is a list of paintings. Where a sale was in dollars or pounds, the rupee figure is the approximate value reported at the time.
Honourable Mentions and Things People Get Wrong
A few names and facts come up a lot when people search for the most expensive Indian artwork. Here is what you should know.
- The overall South Asian record is not a painting. A 12th-century black stone bodhisattva from northeastern India sold for $24.6 million at Christie’s New York in 2017. It is more than Ravi Varma’s price, but it is a sculpture.
- S.H. Raza is not in the top ten, yet. Raza’s Saurashtra set a record of about ₹16.3 crore in 2010. Prices have since climbed far beyond that level.
- Old articles are out of date. Many pages still say The Story Teller is India’s most expensive painting. That was true only until March 2025.
- Dollar and rupee rankings can differ. Exchange rates change, so a London or New York sale can move up or down a spot depending on which currency you count in.
- Folk and tribal art is rising too. Gond artist Jangarh Singh Shyam set his own auction record of about ₹18 crore in 2026, a sign that buyers are looking beyond the usual modernists.
Our Take
Raja Ravi Varma’s Yashoda and Krishna is the clear number one, and it may stay there for a while. At ₹167 crore, it is nearly ₹50 crore ahead of anything else.
But the real story is Tyeb Mehta. Three paintings in the top ten, all sold since April 2025, tell you where serious collectors are putting their money. Nine of these ten records were set in 2025 or 2026, so do not be surprised if this list looks different again by next Diwali.
Also read: Top 5 Indian Fashion Designers to Know This Wedding Season
FAQs
Which is the most expensive Indian painting ever sold?
Raja Ravi Varma’s Yashoda and Krishna, sold at Saffronart in Mumbai on 1 April 2026 for about ₹167.2 crore (around $17.9 million).
Who bought Raja Ravi Varma’s Yashoda and Krishna?
According to Saffronart, the buyer was Cyrus Poonawalla, the founder of the Serum Institute of India.
What is the most expensive painting by M.F. Husain?
Untitled (Gram Yatra) from 1954, which sold at Christie’s New York in March 2025 for $13.75 million, about ₹118 crore. His second highest is The Red Girl at ₹65 crore.
Which Indian woman artist has the highest auction price?
Amrita Sher-Gil. Her painting The Story Teller sold for ₹61.8 crore in September 2023, the highest auction price for an Indian woman artist.
Which Indian artist has the most works in the top 10?
Tyeb Mehta, with three: Rickshaw Puller, Trussed Bull and Untitled (Diagonal). M.F. Husain and F.N. Souza have two each.
Sources: auction results published by Saffronart, Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Pundole’s and AstaGuru, with reports from The Art Newspaper, Business Today, ThePrint, The Wire and Open. See Saffronart for official lot results. Prices include the buyer’s premium; rupee values for sales in dollars or pounds are approximate, as of November 2026. This is general information, not investment advice.
Leave a Reply