Highlights:
- £120,750 raised through art sales, with £6,037.50 donated to charity (5%)
- Hosted by Meera Syal at Surinder Arora’s Fairmont Windsor Park
- New exhibition by Zara Muse combines the Diwali spirit with contemporary painting
- Michelin-starred chef Atul Kochhar curated a Diwali-inspired menu
- Night of art, culture and community giving back
The grand ballroom at Fairmont Windsor Park glowed on Thursday (October 23 2025) as Zara Muse Diwali Reverie brought together artists, philanthropists and community figures and raised £120,750, with £6,037.50 (5%) donated to The Arora Charitable Foundation. The hotel, part of Surinder Arora’s Arora Group, hosted the evening, with Meera Syal introducing the programme.
Fairmont Windsor Park shines bright with Zara Muse Diwali Reverie celebration
Why Zara Muse’s Diwali Reverie stood out
Zara Muse, who moved from the City to a full-time art career, presented a collection that favours texture and energy over tidy representation. The Diwali Reverie series uses palette-knife layers and sculptural strokes to capture light, ritual and movement. Muse said the works were shaped by time spent across India, from Jaipur’s lamps to Udaipur’s mirrored surfaces and the constant motion of Mumbai streets.
Fairmont Windsor Park celebrates Diwali with Zara Muse exhibition and charity auction
Her market momentum is clear: a portrait of Malala Yousafzai sold at Bonhams in April 2025 for £51,200, a result that has increased collector interest in her secondary market.
Hosted by Meera Syal at Surinder Arora’s luxury hotel, the Diwali event blended fine art, South Asian culture and philanthropy.
Inside the Fairmont’s Diwali celebration
Michelin-starred chef Atul Kochhar stepped away from his Mayfair kitchen to plate a Diwali-inspired menu that matched the paintings’ colour and texture. Between courses there were short talks from leading British-Asian figures and a live art demonstration. The mood was intimate and social, people moving from canvas to conversation, pausing to look.
Art and charity light up Fairmont Windsor Park at Zara Muse Diwali Reverie
How the night raised funds
The live auction of Muse’s works produced most of the evening’s receipts. As the auction gathered momentum, hands went up across the room in quick succession. By the close of bidding, the sale total stood at £120,750. From that amount, £6,037.50, representing 5% of the proceeds, was set aside for The Arora Charitable Foundation, which continues its work alongside The British Asian Trust, Age UK and The Prince’s Trust.
What’s next for Zara Muse?
The auction success, paired with the Bonhams sale, has sharpened collectors’ focus on Muse. There’s talk the Diwali Reverie collection may travel to further exhibitions. “It’s about transformation,” Muse said during a short speech, and last night that theme moved from canvas to community.
Agatha Christie boarding the EET Salon at lunchtime on the train from Bulawayo to the Cape. In 1922 Agatha Christie set sail on a 10-month voyage around the world. Her husband Archie had been invited to join a trade mission to promote the British Empire Exhibition and Agatha was determined to go with him The Christie Archive Trust
Agatha Christie under a tree on Honolulu beach after surfing, 1922. Agatha and her husband Archie were permitted to take a short holiday away from the 1922 trade mission and chose Honolulu where they learnt how to surf on longboards. Here Agatha purchased a surf suit in the local style, better suited to the demands of surfing than her swim attire for bathing in Torquay. The Christie Archive Trust
Agatha Christie relaxing during a sightseeing tour, Tajoura, Libya, 1955. Agatha and her second husband, archaeologist Max Mallowan had invited Agatha's daughter Rosalind and grandson Mathew to join them on a tour of the ancient sites of Leptis Magna and Sabratah during December 1955. The Christie Archive Trust
Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express, 201720th Century Studios
Still from Murder on the Orient Express, 201720th Century Studios
Still from And Then There Were None, 2015, BBC Agatha Christie Limited
Still from And Then There Were None, 2015, BBCAgatha Christie Limited
Still from And Then There Were None, 2015, BBCAgatha Christie Limited
Agatha Christie’s Remington typewriter from 1937 The Christie Archive Trust
Agatha Christie’s Remington typewriter from 1937The Christie Archive Trust
Agatha Christie’s study notes for her pharmaceutical exam taken in 1917The Christie Archive Trust
Letter from Agatha Christie to her second husband Max Mallowan, in December 1930. Agatha writes to Max describing her return home from their honeymoon, on the Orient Express. Documenting how the train had been halted by floods and her fellow travellers' reactions, this event would inspire her to write Murder on the Orient Express a few years later.The Christie Archive Trust
Cover of typescript ofHouse of Beauty, Agatha Christie’s first short story written when she was just a teenager.The Christie Archive Trust
Box for Tabloid Veronal tablets,1910-1940 Science Museum Group
Chemical storage bottle and glass stopper, labelled ‘POISON phosphorus P’,1907-1912Science Museum Group
Empty poison bottle for aconite, iodine and chloretone solution,1925-1960Science Museum Group
Newby Teas
