Amrita Sher-Gil’s ‘The Story Teller’ draws a king’s ransom clocking ₹61.8 crore at auction
Setting a record for the highest price achieved by an Indian artist, ‘The StoryTeller’ by famous Sikh-Hungarian painter Amrita Sher-Gil has unseated Sayed Haider Raza’s “Gestation” fetched ₹ 51.7 crore at Pundole auction house 10 days back.
The record breaking artwork was done in 1937 which was auctioned on Saturday at Saffronart’s ‘Evening Sale: Modern Art’, among the 70 plus art pieces by eminent artists including MF Husain, VS Gaitonde, Jamini Roy and FS Souza, featured in the auction.
“The Story Teller”, touted to be among the 12 works selected by Sher-Gil herself as her most significant works, is widely considered an example of the artist’s most honest and expressive compositions.
According to Minal Vazirani, the auction house’s co-founder, “The sale of this particular work is an important milestone in the market. However, equally important, is the work itself – it is an exceptional painting as a cornerstone in Sher-Gil’s work as such. She is one of India’s national art treasures, and this type of work is quite rare to come across for sale.”
‘The Story Teller’ is an important milestone in the Indian art market and testament to the artist’s immense skill and enduring legacy as one of India’s art treasures,” said Dinesh Vazirani, CEO and co-founder of Saffronart.
In the past Sher-Gil’s works have been auctioned 84 times. Her oldest auction was recorded on MutualArt for the artwork Village Group, sold at English auction house Sotheby’s as early as 1992.
Her other admired work portraying domestic life of women include “Three Girls”, “Women on the Charpai”, “Hill Women”, and “Young Girls’ ‘.
