A painting by Indian artist MF Husain that had not been seen for over 70 years has set a new record after being sold at a Christie's auction in New York on March 19 for a whopping $13.8 million, or Rs 118 crore. Husain's Untitled (Gram Yatra), is a 14ft masterpiece depicting the rural life of India and has become the most expensive Indian modern art piece to be sold at a public auction.

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Husain made the masterpiece in 1954 and had an estimated value of $3.5 million. The sale value is quadruple the estimate and is the second-highest price ever fetched by a South Asian artwork.

The earlier record for the most expensive Indian artwork was held by Amrita Sher-Gil’s The Story Teller painted in 1937 after it was sold for $7.4 million in Mumbai last year. 

Five contenders bid competitively for Husain's artwork, and an undisclosed institution won it. The painting was bought through Nishad Avari, Christie’s head of South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art.

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According to a blog by journalist and author John Elliot, Indian art collector and philanthropist Kiran Nadar is “believed to have won the work" and it is expected to be put on display at her famous New Delhi art museum known as KNMA.

In South Asia, a 12th-century black stone bodhisattva sculpture was auctioned off for $24.6 million at Christie’s New York in 2017, the highest for the region.

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Where was MF Husain's piece for 70 years?

The masterpiece by MF Husain was first bought in 1954 by  Norwegian surgeon and art collector Leon Elias Volodarsky. He was leading a World Health Organization (WHO) team in Delhi at the time. His estate donated the painting to the Oslo University Hospital in 1964 where it was on display in a private corridor.

The Oslo University Hospital put it up for auction to help fund a medical training centre. The painting was renamed "The Volodarsky Husain". 

Calling the sale a "landmark moment", Avari said that the artwork "comprises of 13 separate vignettes of village life in India, which is really important, because this is five years after Indian independence".