The film The Price of Everything says it all. Made in 2018, it is an American documentary film directed by Nathaniel Kahn, which brings forth the deep connections between the artist, the curator, the gallerist and the auction house. The artists featured are Jeff Koons, George Condo, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, and Larry Poons.
What the film portrays is the deep nexus between the key players, which includes the curators, artists, auction houses, and the galleries. Cartels emerge, and then there are smaller individuals who work like minor dons, followed by dealers and agents who are in the secondary market of art. This is very much a feature of the contemporary Indian art market. Similar structures and trends are emerging in the Indian art market today. A brief overview of the period between 2015 and 2025 shows a clear shift in market character. Around 2015, the market was strong but selective, with top works typically priced between Rs 5-25 crore and very few crossing the Rs 30-40 crore threshold.
A key moment was Tyeb Mehta’s The Celebration, sold for Rs 15 million at a Christie’s auction in 2002, which helped establish a new high-value benchmark in this range.
Since 2015, the Indian art market has expanded to over Rs 3,000 crore, with projections of Rs 10,000 crore by 2030, indicating structural growth rather than a momentary boom.
Between 2023 and 2025, the market entered a record-breaking phase, with multiple works crossing Rs 50-100 crore. Amrita Sher-Gil’s works have crossed Rs 56-60 crore, while MF Husain’s Gram Yatra (1954), a monumental 14-ft, 13-panel oil painting depicting rural Indian life post-independence, sold for approximately Rs 118 crore in 2025 at Christie’s, acquired by the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA), currently the highest price achieved for an Indian artwork. The painting was originally bought by a Norwegian, Dr Leon Elias Volodarsky, a thoracic surgeon and art collector who worked for the WHO in 1954, in Delhi, for Rs 1,400, which he kept for 70 years and ultimately donated to an Oslo Hospital, where it remained unseen till 2025. The painting’s rise from earlier Husain benchmarks in the Rs 5-15 crore range reflects the sharp expansion of the market ceiling to Rs 50-120-plus crore. Modern masters continue to dominate demand; their works accounted for nearly 39 per cent of total auction value, and modern art sales grew by about 23 per cent in 2024.
Price growth across major artists illustrates this structural escalation. Raja Ravi Varma’s Radha in the Moonlight sold for about Rs 20 crore in 2016, while Yashoda Krishna reached approximately Rs 38 crore in 2023. Amrita Sher-Gil’s Self Portrait sold for around Rs 17 crore in 2015, compared to Rs 61.8 crore for The Story Teller in 2023. Tyeb Mehta’s works moved from Rs 11-20 crore levels in the early 2010s to Rs 61.8 crore for Trussed Bull (1956) in 2025. SH Raza’s record rose from Rs 16.3 crore for Saurashtra (2010) to Rs 51.75 crore for Gestation (2023). FN Souza’s Birth fetched about Rs 26.4 crore in 2015, while Houses in Hampstead reached Rs 66.9 crore in 2025. Jagdish Swaminathan’s market expanded from sub-Rs 1 crore estimates in the mid-2010s to nearly Rs 40 crore for Homage to Solzhenitsyn (Triptych) in 2025. MV Dhurandhar is also receiving renewed attention, with Draupadi Vastraharan (1934) selling for Rs 8.04 crore in 2022.
Why the price rise of Indian modern masters?
1. Rise of Indian wealth and a new domestic collector base
2. Global institutional recognition and international demand. As Indian modernism enters major museum collections, biennales, and global art fairs, international art collectors have revalued these artists
3. Scarcity of museum-quality works
4. Art historical importance and canon consolidation. Works which represent key stylistic moments command the highest price, i.e. Raza’s Bindu period
5. Auction ecosystems, marketing and digital expansion
6. Cultural nationalism. As in the case of Rabindranath Tagore and Raja Ravi Varma, certain modern masters have a kind of branding
Trophy nationalism of MF Husain, a rare abstraction for VS Gaitonde, global demand for FN Souza, canonical value for SH Raza, and an aggressive auction competition for Tyeb Mehta, all the above illustrate the economic, cultural and art historical factors which have collectively reshaped the present-day valuations.
One of the gravest concerns today is the growing scale of forgery and authentication fraud. Globally, art forgery is estimated to cause losses of $6 billion annually, roughly 10 per cent of total market transactions. Experts noted that the rising prices of modern masters have made them prime targets for forgery. Closely connected is the provenance crisis.
The Indian art market today is a robust market for the masters, which at the moment, is fraught with fakes and a growing overpriced market of contemporary masters, a market for popular, affordable art, an emerging demand for folk, particularly tribal art, and an emergence of conceptual art, which is quite derivative but still has an increasing audience.
The recent controversy of the 2025 India Art Fair, where works attributed to MF Husain and FN Souza were questioned, made nearly 25 per cent of collectors feel concerned about fakes. The problem is compounded by poor ownership documentation, counterfeit certificates, weak archival records, and the absence of a centralised art registry or regulatory oversight, especially in the secondary market for deceased artists, where financial stakes are high.
At the same time, structural and economic pressures are adding to market instability. Forgers now use period-accurate materials, fabricated histories, and digital tools, increasing reliance on scientific and AI-based authentication, even as the art world remains cautious about fully trusting technology. Market confidence has also weakened. The Art Basel & UBS Global Art Market Report 2025 noted a 12 per cent decline in global sales in 2024, with a 39 per cent drop in transactions above $10 million, signalling cooling at the top end that typically sets price benchmarks.
Art also remains an illiquid asset with high transaction costs, dealer commissions often exceeding 25 per cent, along with storage, insurance, conservation, and taxes. All within a system supported by a relatively small and geographically concentrated, narrow collector base, which has made the Indian art market particularly vulnerable to shifts in confidence and demand.
Concerns around authenticity and legal disputes have also surfaced in relation to works attributed to Raja Ravi Varma. The Ravi Varma market has also been affected by broader concerns over fake prints and misrepresented works circulating. His painting, Kadambari, is one of the most frequently reproduced artworks.
A major controversy came into light in November 2010 when the Bengaluru-based auction house, Bid and Hammer Auctioneers Pvt. Ltd., auctioned the 120-year-old painting Jatayu Vadham by Raja Ravi Varma. After acquiring the artwork, Nadar commissioned a technical evaluation, which concluded that the painting was a duplicate.
Instances of art forgery in India are not uncommon. In 2009, renowned artist SH Raza attended an exhibition of his own works at the Dhoomimal Gallery in Delhi. To his shock, the then 86-year-old artist discovered that several pieces displayed were counterfeit.
Similarly, in 2008, a Mumbai gallery owner was arrested for selling forged works attributed to artist Subodh Gupta. Earlier, in 2004, two paintings by Anjolie Ela Menon that had been sold through a South Mumbai gallery were later identified as fakes.
The cause of grave concern at the moment is the number of fakes which are flooding the art market. People are relying on auction houses for provenance. The only reliable points of reference at the moment are auction houses like Pundole and Saffron Art. There is a dire need for more experts.
“There are three times more art by my father in the market than what he produced in his lifetime,” lamented Kalidasa, the son of J Swaminathan.
Art has definitely begun to function like a financial commodity. Though not in the same way, like public securities, shares, and other mutual funds. Because art lacks standardised pricing and liquidity, but it is now increasingly being treated as a store of value and capital asset.
The sharp rise in the Indian art market of modern Indian masters in the last 10 years has been exponential, driven by art historical and cultural factors, but primarily by the market.
In India, there are various reasons for art becoming a financial commodity. One of the primary factors is that there is a rapid expansion of wealth, particularly the growth of High Net Worth Individuals (HNIs) and the emergence of family offices. They look at art as a tangible luxury asset. Another significant driver is the scarcity of Master works, with the limited availability of historically important works by modern masters such as VS Gaitonde or Tyeb Mehta, which is increasing the price escalation.
The transparency of the auction platforms has further strengthened art’s position as an investment category. With the presence of online auction platforms, the records have become publicly accessible.
The Indian art market is witnessing a strong shift toward “blue-chip moderns,” with buyers concentrating investment on a small group of established masters whose works have shown steady appreciation.
Collecting art is majorly guided by financial logic, with art being treated as an alternative asset and being compared to real estate, gold or private equity. Due to its low market correlation and long-term appreciation potential, a lot of wealth managers and private banks advise their clients to build art collections as part of wealth diversification strategies.
What is interesting to watch in the growing Indian art market is some key players, emerging cartels and conglomerates coming together. There are very distinct markets for different categories of art. At the top of the pyramid are a group of artists known as the Masters, beginning with Raja Ravi Varma, Amrita Sher-Gil, MF Husain, FN Souza, Tyeb Mehta, etc.
Rising prices in the Indian art market are being driven by a combination of scarcity, art-historical value, market structuring, and shifting collector attitudes. The scarcity effect is most evident in the case of VS Gaitonde, whose rare abstract canvases, produced slowly and in limited numbers, have risen from about Rs 42 crore in 2022 to Rs 67 crore in 2025. At the same time, the market increasingly favours works that represent defining moments in an artist’s career, with canonical phases such as SH Raza’s Bindu period commanding premium valuations, exemplified by Gestation (1989), which sold for Rs 51.75 crore. Auction houses have further accelerated this growth through aggressive marketing, global online bidding, and curated high-value sales, pushing the average price per lot from Rs 17 lakh in 2021 to Rs 38 lakh in 2024 and enabling landmark results such as Tyeb Mehta’s Trussed Bull at around Rs 56 crore. Alongside these structural factors, collectors are increasingly viewing modern Indian masters not just as long term financial assets but also as cultural heritage assets, much less as speculative purchases, driving renewed interest in historically significant figures like Rabindranath Tagore, whose works have achieved record prices supported by strong provenance. As top-tier artists become increasingly expensive, a spillover effect is also visible, with collectors turning to adjacent masters and driving broad-based growth across the segment, reflected in strong annual increases for artists such as Souza (+50%), Husain (+27%), Raza (+14%), and Ram Kumar (+8%).
Public institutions, government academies, and private art trusts have also strengthened the market. Major public art institutions such as the Lalit Kala Akademi, India Habitat Centre’s Visual Arts Gallery, Jehangir Art Gallery, Birla Academy, and Victoria Memorial continue to shape visibility and scholarship. Commercial galleries like Vadehra Art Gallery, Nature Morte, Gallery Espace in Delhi, Chemould Prescott, Art & Soul, Tarq, Tao Gallery in Mumbai and others sustain primary market activity.
At a special preview at the Oberoi Hotel on February 6, this year, the entire gamut of the Masters was on display. The prices for the masters are at an all-time high, with Kiran Nadar acquiring some of the finest works. The show of Tyeb Mehta, currently ongoing at the KNMA museum, is a testimony to a very fine collection. The KNMA museum can gleefully boast some of the finest works of MF Husain, Arpita Singh, Himmat Shah, and many more.
India’s art fair ecosystem is growing, with India Art Fair (New Delhi) now well established, and newer platforms like Art Mumbai emerging alongside global fairs such as Art Basel, Frieze, and ART SG. Auction houses have played a central role in market expansion. Saffronart, AstaGuru, and Pundole’s have built collector confidence through online and live sales, provenance research, and international outreach.
Another segment, the emerging artists below 40 years of age, is the most interesting- highly creative and very well priced. Many of these artists have studied overseas, got awards and fellowships from European cultural centres in India. Many of whom have been to short-term residencies across the globe are creating a new language of art. Many galleries are now supporting printing and displaying art of this group of artists, who are classified as emerging artists. There are various conceptual artists in this group, like Jitish Kallat, Vibha Galhotra, Atul Bhalla, Mithu Sen, Thukral & Tagra, Raqs Media Collective, and Gigi Scaria, to name a few.
In a country of 1.4 billion, where spending power is increasing, a new trend in the market is the interface between art, craft and design, with indigenous artists also entering the fray of auction houses. Artists such as Jangarh Singh Shyam, Balu Jivya Mashe, Shanti Bai, and Jaidev Baghel are inching their way to commanding never-before-observed high prices. Similar trends are observed in devotional, traditional, craft-based art. Textile art, along with spiritual art based on mythologies is slowly entering the ecosystem of contemporary art.
Art is growing in New India with a major concentrated focus on what is traditional art. The older terminologies like folk and tribal also mark an upward swing, over the last decade, patronised by institutions like The Crafts Council, the Crafts Museums New Delhi, Kala Bhoomi Odisha Crafts Museum, Swadesh, set up by Nita Ambani and Dakshina Chitra.
Meera of Club Artizen, a Mumbai-based collective, states that the demand for unusual art is growing too. Buyers are looking to discover the not-so-well-known Gond, Madhubani, Warli art, and Patachitra from Odisha and West Bengal. Kantha and Sujni from Bengal and Bihar are well known. Another organisation like October Arthouse, which is in the process of preserving the languishing and vanishing arts of India, is gaining traction.
The growing art fairs like the India Art Fair and the Mumbai Art Fair are providing an important platform for the commodification and commercialisation of art (not quite a bad thing for the growth of Art in India). Some top-known contemporary artists are Arpita Singh, Madhvi Parikh, Nalini Malani, Jitish Kallat, Shilpa Gupta, Atul Dodiya, Subodh Gupta, and Bharti Kher, who are well represented in today’s art fairs. These fairs are providing a robust field for art sales; in fact, they are akin to sophisticated trade fairs, providing a great place for the buying and selling of art. These two major art fairs are providing a dynamic and competitive arena for galleries, dealers and buyers. The two major art fairs, the India Art Fair and the Art of India, are providing an attractive marketplace where active trade of art is taking place. The fairly young Art of India, is creating a new brand for art.
There are residencies and art initiatives like Indian Foundation for the Arts (IFA), Asia Society, Art Ichol, Pepper House Residency run by Kochi Muziris Biennale, Sanskriti Foundation, and KHOJ Visual Arts Residency.
India Art Fair 2026 in Delhi saw the presence of a number of interesting trusts and NGOs including Prameya Art Foundation, Public Arts Trust of India (PATI), Chanakya Foundation, KNMA, Serendipity Arts, and The Gujral Foundation.
One positive aspect, which is a by-product of the burgeoning competitive art market, is the parallel stream of an alternate art trajectory. The notions of nature (prakriti) are being transformed through attentiveness and awareness towards the ecological environment, sustainability, catch words which underline the alternative languages of art. Concepts such as the art of neurodiverse are entering the frame.
These are very interesting times for the art market. There is a huge churning happening, almost like a samudra manthan. As the Indian market is getting buoyant, there is more money with the people and Indian art is also flourishing. The demand for art is growing among Indians in India and abroad, where Indians are still comfortable buying only Indian art. More homes are being built in India, and with the big, increasingly wealthy diaspora in Dubai, London, and the US, the demand for Indian art is increasing rapidly, with numerous trends in the Indian art market emerging.
A market for emerging artists is developing, which belongs to the category of what is normally called affordable art. A number of art fairs are sprouting up, catering to the growing demand for art in this price segment. There is a huge potential for the Indian art market, which also accounts for the success of the India Art Fair in Delhi, the Art Mumbai, and the Art of India. A lot more art initiatives like the Kochi Biennale, the Bengal Biennale are now visible, along with, of course, the massive growth of the prices of the Indian masters, with the auction prices with Pundole, Saffron Art, and Astaguru, not to forget the Asian Section with Christies, followed by Sotheby’s.
Art is now as much a financial commodity as an aesthetic one, though quite dissimilar to publicly traded securities. With the rapid growth of wealth expansion, with the rise of HNI’s, family and corporate offices, there is an increased demand for tangible luxury assets, and high-end Indian art certainly fits the category. In light of the limited availability of historically important works such as those of VS Gaitonde, Tyeb Mehta, Amrita Sher-Gil and Raja Ravi Varma.
Fortunately, there is also a growing transparency and availability of online data from auction houses, which provide price histories enabling investors to track appreciation trends. In financial portfolio diversification art is perceived as a hedge against inflation and marked volatility since its value is driven by cultural capital and rarity rather than the financial cycle. Art is increasingly treated as a store of value and a capital asset.
The current Indian market is characterised by the consolidation of blue-chip masters, increased participation from wealth managers and financial advisors, and the gradual integration of art into wealth portfolios, signalling a clear shift from purely collecting art for aesthetic purposes, towards art being both a cultural capital and a financial asset.
The downside of course is that the Indian market is also abuzz with cartels, ‘mafias’, consortiums, along with forgeries and frauds, which makes the Chinese adage even more relevant: “May you live in interesting times”.
The writer is an art historian, curator, and author