5 costliest Indian paintings

1. Painting - Birth

Artist - Francis Newton Souza

Price: Rupees. 26.90 Crore

Birth is a painting by Goa-born artist Francis Newton Souza that was sold for a record price of Rupees 26.90 Crore at a Christie's auction in New York in 2015. Birth is considered one of the most important paintings of the Goa-born artist's career and was included in his first solo show at Gallery One in London. Souza was a founding member of the Progressive Artists' Group of Bombay and was the first post-independence Indian artist to achieve high recognition in the West.

2. Painting - Untitled

Artist - Vasudeo S Gaitonde

Price: Rs. 23.70 Crore

An untitled painting by Vasudeo Gaitonde was sold for Rs. 23.70 Crore in an auction by Christie’s art gallery in the year 2013. The painting, bearing his signature in Hindi, went to a private collector from the US. He was regarded as one of India's foremost abstract painters.

3. Painting - Figure on a Rickshaw

Artist: Tyeb Mehta

Price: Rupees 19.78 Crore

An untitled painting by Tyeb Mehta, a key member of the Bombay Progressive Artist's group was sold for Rs. 19.78 Crore at a Christie’s auction in London in the year 2011. The untitled work depicts a human figure reclining on a hand-pulled rickshaw in blocks of greys, reds and saffron. Tyeb Mehta was born on 26 July 1925 in Kapadvanj, a town of Kheda district, the Indian state of Gujarat.

4. Painting - Saurashtra

Artist - Syed Haider Raza

Price –  Rupees 16.42 Crore

Saurashtra, a painting by Syed Haider Raza was sold for Rupees 16.42 Crore at a Christie's in London in the year 2010. In 1983, he painted Saurashtra that depicts the beauty of the Gujarati coastal landscape. He was awarded the Padma Shri and Fellowship of the Lalit Kala Akademi in 1981, Padma Bhushan in 2007, Padma Vibhushan in 2013 and Commandeur de la Legion d'honneur (France).

5. Painting - Untitled (Self Portrait)

Artist: Amrita Sher Gil

Price: Rs. 18.28 Crore

A self-portrait by Amrita Sher-Gil was sold for Rs. 18.28 Crore in an auction by Sotheby’s in New York in the year 2015 setting a new record for the artist who is considered the greatest female painter of India. Sher-Gil is considered an important woman painter of 20th-century India, whose legacy stands on a level with that of the pioneers of Bengal Renaissance.