This is an archive article published on February 10, 2025

Who sold what at the India Art Fair

The India Art Fair reported brisk business across art genres and categories

4 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Feb 10, 2025 07:13 PM IST

The success of the fair was also evidenced in the sales recorded across all genres and categories

The massive crowd in attendance at the India Art Fair (IAF) in Delhi might have been apparent from the fact that the gates had to be shut a tad earlier for entry over the weekend, but the success of the fair was also evidenced in the sales recorded across all genres and categories within its large tents that accommodated 120 exhibitors — the highest for any fair edition yet.

“The maturing of the art market and the importance of art fairs as platforms that bring in diverse elements of the art world was in ample evidence at India Art Fair 2025. Not only did we record very good sales on the first day itself, a healthy buzz was in evidence throughout the fair. We recorded healthy sales of several works with individual prices ranging between Rs 40 lakh to Rs 1.5 crore each,” noted Ashish Anand, CEO and Managing Director of DAG. Among the works that sold at the booth was a JP Gangooly mountain landscape, SH Raza’s abstract set within an old window frame, Laxman Pai’s rendition of spring pained in Paris, Nirode Mazumdar’s work from his ‘Quest’ series; and a Madhvi Parekh 1975 oil on canvas.

JP Gangooly’s mountain landscape

According to a note issued by the IAF, Nature Morte sold 70 per cent of their booth by Day Two, including a Jitish Kallat work for around $100,000.

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On Day One, Vadehra Art Gallery had sold 90 per cent of their booth. With prices reportedly ranging from $2,500 to $300,000 USD, the works at the Vadehra booth included the likes of Sudhir Patwardhan, Atul Dodiya, Shilpa Gupta and Vivan Sundaram.

Art Exposure gallery sold six works by Buddhadev Mukherjee for $44,000 in total, with three reportedly going to Kiran Nadar, one to another Indian collector, and two to a US-based collector. Iram Gallery sold works by Promiti Husain and Sangeeta Sandrasegar, as well as a large work by Dinar Sultana to an Indian collector for $24,000.
Debuting at the IAF, Chennai-based Ashvita’s Art Gallery sold five works by DP Roy Chowdhury to a Mumbai-based collector for $69,000. Shrine Empire sold two works by Nandita Kumar for over $30,000 each, and multiple smaller works at the $10,000 price point.

Madhvi Parekh 1975 oil on canvas

Featuring 13 international exhibitors this year, the international biggies at the IAF — including Lisson Gallery, Galleria Continua and David Zwirner — also made substantial sales. The sales at David Zwirner included paintings by Portia Zvavahera, Oscar Murillo and Sosa Joseph, and a sculpture by Pakistani-American sculptor Huma Bhabha.
Carpenters Workshop Gallery, which focuses on redefining boundaries between art and design, had made sales worth $600,000 on Day One itself. This included Maarten Baas’s Self Portrait Clock, which went to a prominent Indian collection. “The response has been phenomenal… India is an important market, though we do need to work with the logistics, tax implications and transportation of works from home (gallery locations the world over),” noted Loic Le Gaillard, co-founder of the gallery.

Before the fair commenced, its director Jaya Asokan had emphasised how it offers an equal platform to indigenous Indian traditional art forms — that push seemed to reflect in the sales as well.

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SH Raza’s abstract set within an old window frame

“Earlier, at the art fair we had the more traditional clientele who would make purchases or young collectors who would purchase an entry-point Pichvai, but this year I noticed that people were willing to buy the more expensive works as well, which was very heartwarming,” said Pooja Singhal, art collector, curator and revivalist, who is the founder of Pichvai Tradition & Beyond. She added, “The outreach of the fair has certainly broadened, with people coming from the world over as well as cities across India. We had several architects showing interest for projects, and people have commissioned works from the catalogue as well.”

Participating in the IAF since 2012, this year the prices at her booth ranged from Rs 15,000 to Rs 8.5 lakh. On view were traditional Pichvais as well as contemporary interventions, including grey-scale rendition of the 24 Swaroop composition.

Vandana Kalra

Vandana Kalra is an art critic and Deputy Associate Editor with The Indian Express. She has spent more than two decades chronicling arts, culture and everyday life, with modern and contemporary art at the heart of her practice. With a sustained engagement in the arts and a deep understanding of India’s cultural ecosystem, she is regarded as a distinctive and authoritative voice in contemporary art journalism in India. Vandana Kalra's career has unfolded in step with the shifting contours of India’s cultural landscape, from the rise of the Indian art market to the growing prominence of global biennales and fairs. Closely tracking its ebbs and surges, she reports from studios, galleries, museums and exhibition spaces and has covered major Indian and international art fairs, museum exhibitions and biennales, including the Venice Biennale, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Documenta, Islamic Arts Biennale. She has also been invited to cover landmark moments in modern Indian art, including SH Raza’s exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the opening of the MF Husain Museum in Doha, reflecting her long engagement with the legacies of India’s modern masters. Alongside her writing, she applies a keen editorial sensibility, shaping and editing art and cultural coverage into informed, cohesive narratives. Through incisive features, interviews and critical reviews, she brings clarity to complex artistic conversations, foregrounding questions of process, patronage, craft, identity and cultural memory. The Global Art Circuit: She provides extensive coverage of major events like the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Serendipity Arts Festival, and high-profile international auctions. Artist Spotlights: She writes in-depth features on modern masters (like M.F. Husain) and contemporary performance artists (like Marina Abramović). Art and Labor: A recurring theme in her writing is how art reflects the lives of the marginalized, including migrants, farmers, and labourers. Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025) Her recent portfolio is dominated by the coverage of the 2025 art season in India: 1. Kochi-Muziris Biennale & Serendipity Arts Festival "At Serendipity Arts Festival, a 'Shark Tank' of sorts for art and crafts startups" (Dec 20, 2025): On how a new incubator is helping artisans pitch products to investors. "Artist Birender Yadav's work gives voice to the migrant self" (Dec 17, 2025): A profile of an artist whose decade-long practice focuses on brick kiln workers. "At Kochi-Muziris Biennale, a farmer’s son from Patiala uses his art to draw attention to Delhi’s polluted air" (Dec 16, 2025). "Kochi Biennale showstopper Marina Abramović, a pioneer in performance art" (Dec 7, 2025): An interview with the world-renowned artist on the power of reinvention. 2. M.F. Husain & Modernism "Inside the new MF Husain Museum in Qatar" (Nov 29, 2025): A three-part series on the opening of Lawh Wa Qalam in Doha, exploring how a 2008 sketch became the architectural core of the museum. "Doha opens Lawh Wa Qalam: Celebrating the modernist's global legacy" (Nov 29, 2025). 3. Art Market & Records "Frida Kahlo sets record for the most expensive work by a female artist" (Nov 21, 2025): On Kahlo's canvas The Dream (The Bed) selling for $54.7 million. "All you need to know about Klimt’s canvas that is now the most expensive modern artwork" (Nov 19, 2025). "What’s special about a $12.1 million gold toilet?" (Nov 19, 2025): A quirky look at a flushable 18-karat gold artwork. 4. Art Education & History "Art as play: How process-driven activities are changing the way children learn art in India" (Nov 23, 2025). "A glimpse of Goa's layered history at Serendipity Arts Festival" (Dec 9, 2025): Exploring historical landmarks as venues for contemporary art. Signature Beats Vandana is known for her investigative approach to the art economy, having recently written about "Who funds the Kochi-Muziris Biennale?" (Dec 11, 2025), detailing the role of "Platinum Benefactors." She also explores the spiritual and geometric aspects of art, as seen in her retrospective on artist Akkitham Narayanan and the history of the Cholamandal Artists' Village (Nov 22, 2025). ... Read More

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