Indian painting sells for record $17.9 million

An Indian oil painting by celebrated 19th century artist Raja Ravi Varma has sold for a record $17.9 million at auction in Mumbai, the highest price ever paid for a modern Indian artwork.

Mumbai-based auction house Saffronart said the painting, "Yashoda and Krishna," depicting the Hindu god Krishna with his mother while she milks a cow, was also the highest paid for a Varma artwork in an auction worldwide.

The oil on canvas painting was put up for auction on Wednesday, far surpassing its estimated price of $8.6 million-$12.9 million.

"It is... the highest value work by an Indian artist sold at auction globally," Saffronart said.

The Times of India newspaper said the painting was bought by industrialist and vaccine tycoon Cyrus Poonawala.

"This national treasure deserves to be made available for public viewing periodically," Poonawala told the newspaper, adding that he would "endeavour to facilitate this."

Varma, born in 1848, is known for his use of European technique in the context of Indian narratives.

"Painted in the 1890s, when Ravi Varma was at the height of his career, 'Yashoda and Krishna' ranks as one of the artist's most accomplished works," Saffronart said, adding that the listed "national art treasure" had been part of a private collection.

The painting "exemplifies the artist's unparalleled mastery of oil painting and his pioneering naturalistic portrayal of Indian deities that helped define how modern India imagines its sacred narratives," Saffronart said.

Agence France-Presse