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MF Hussain’s Untitledal (Gram Travel) is about 14 feet long and is made up of 13 panels, each of which has shown a different view from village life in India.
Kriti was sold on 19 March in a Christie auction in New York. (Photo Credit: X/@Christicink)
The artwork of mythological painter MF Hussain Untitled (Gram Yatra) has become the most expensive modern Indian painting ever. The 1954 Kriti was sold for $ 13.8 million (more than Rs 118 crore) at a Christie auction in New York on March 19. The sales almost doubled the previous record organized by Amrita Sher-Gill’s The Story Taylor, which was auctioned for $ 7.4 million (Rs 61.8 crore) in Mumbai in Mumbai.
The results of the auction exceeded the expectations. According to Artnews, Christie had estimated the value of the painting between $ 2.5 million (Rs 21.5 crore) and $ 3.5 million (Rs 30 crore), but it was eventually sold for more than four times the amount. With this, Hussain’s previous record of $ 3.1 million (about Rs 26.5 crore) set up his painting untitled (rebirth) in Sothabi in London in 2023.
Untitled (Gram Yatra) is one of Hussain’s most important functions since the 1950s. The painting is about 14 feet long and is made up of 13 panels, each of which shows a different scene from village life in India. The title means “Gram Pilgrimage” which highlights the importance of rural life in shaping the future of the country after independence. One of the panels is a permanent farmer who is the only male person in painting. It is considered to be Hussain’s self-painting and the only image that crosses another vignate of a landscape along the fields.
“We are thrilled to establish a new benchmark value for Maqbool Fida Husain and the entire category of work.
Painting originally Dr. Leon Ellius Volodarski, a Norwegian Surgeon who acquired it in New Delhi in 1954, leading the World Health Organization (WHO) project. In 1964, his property donated it to Oslo University Hospital, where it hid from a public point of view for nearly seven decades.
“It was in a private neurological corridor,” Avari told Artertus.
Getting paintings for auction was a long process that took 13 years. Since the artwork was in the possession of Oslo University Hospital, the sale could only proceed once when the hospital board approved it. When the institution was finally ready to sell, the necessary permission was to be obtained before the auction was poured.
“In fact, it is really satisfactory, it is that income is being used to set up a training center for doctors in the name of Dr. Volodarsky,” Avari said.
MF Hussain was born on 17 September 1915 in Pandarpur, Maharashtra. His visit as an artist began in Mumbai, where he worked as a billboard painter.
After India gained independence, the country was undergoing a phase of change and growth. During this time, Hussain’s art focused on creating a modern identity for India. He was deeply interested in history, mythology and Indian culture, which often influenced his paintings. Many of his works were sometimes shown to the gods and goddesses associated with the politics of that period.
But some of his paintings became controversial, threatening to turn and death. Due to this, he was forced to leave India. He lived in Dubai and often traveled to New York and London. Hussain died on 95 June 2011 at the age of 95.
