Paresh Maity’s enormous canvas, among 900 gifts received by PM up for e-auction

A 12-feet-long Paresh Maity canvas – capturing a typical Banaras landscape with the ghats and boats – covering an entire wall of the exhibition hall at National Gallery of Modern Art has been put up for the month-long e-auction of gifts and mementos received by the Prime Minister, starting today. The painting, 4.5 metre in height and weighing around 30 kg, was presented to PM Narendra Modi by the noted artist after one of his creative sojourns to Varanasi. At a base price of Rs 64 lakh, the artwork will be up for e-auction along with over 900 other such objects this year.

The month-long online auction has 912 such gifts and presents going under the hammer, out of which, 150 are on physical display at the gallery. While the Maity canvas is the most expensive item of the lot, the lowest reserve price is Rs 100 for some digital prints that were presented to the PM during his trips within the country. This is the fifth edition of the auction, and the proceeds will go to the Namami Gange programme. Minister of State for Culture Meenakshi Lekhi said around Rs 33 crore has been collected through such auctions over the years, and all the proceeds have gone towards the rejuvenation of the river Ganga.

The products on display also represent various Indian art forms, and include paintings, sculptures, handicrafts, and folk and tribal artefacts, besides replicas of architectural buildings such as Modhera Sun Temple and Vijay Stambh of Chittorgarh. (Express Photo by Praveen Khanna)

Officials say around 7,000 such mementos have been auctioned during consecutive editions, starting January 2019, and people from across the country have participated and bid for them. While foreigners are not allowed to bid, the presents received by the Prime Minister during his foreign visits are also not part of the auction, officials added.

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The products on display also represent various Indian art forms, and include paintings, sculptures, handicrafts, and folk and tribal artefacts, besides replicas of architectural buildings such as Modhera Sun Temple and Vijay Stambh of Chittorgarh. There are also angavastrams, shawls, headgear, and ceremonial swords that were presented to PM Modi on different occasions.

At a base price of Rs 64 lakh, the artwork will be up for e-auction along with 150 other such objects this year. (Express Photo by Praveen Khanna)

During the 2022 edition, replicas of the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya and the Kashi-Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi remained the top draw, besides a range of sports memorabilia, in the wake of India’s medal haul at the Commonwealth Games. In 2019, during the first such auction, 1,805 gifts were put on auction. In the second round, 2,772 items were put on auction. In 2021, an e-auction was held in September wherein 1,348 items were on auction.