Sotheby's London has achieved its strongest-ever result for modern and contemporary South Asian art, with a 73-lot auction reaching £19.8 million ($26.2 million). The sale surpassed the auction house's previous category record, set in London a year earlier.
The event recorded a 99% sell-through rate, while 89% of the works exceeded their high estimates. Nine artists established new auction records, highlighting sustained international interest in South Asian modernism and contemporary expression.
Leading works redefine market momentum
The top lot was Sayed Haider Raza's 1960 abstract landscape Paysage Rouge, which sold for £3.8 million, nearly $5 million. The result was approximately ten times above its high estimate and became the artist's third-highest auction price.
Bhupen Khakhar's Old Men Playing Chess followed closely, achieving £3.1 million ($4.2 million) and setting a new personal record for the artist. Maqbool Fida Husain's Mithuna Crimson also performed strongly, selling for £2.7 million ($3.5 million).
Rabindranath Tagore's Untitled (Head of a Woman) reached £1 million ($1.4 million), establishing another artist record. Additional records were set for Antonio Piedade da Cruz, Sunayani Devi, Olinto Ghilardi, Gopal Ghose, Dhruva Mistry, Hugo Vilfred Pedersen and Mohan Sharma.
The results underline how collectors are increasingly recognizing the artistic depth, historical range and global relevance of South Asian art. This growing visibility may encourage broader museum engagement, scholarship and cross-cultural collecting in the years ahead.
