{"id":2749,"date":"2026-09-07T07:17:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T07:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theartsgazette.com\/?p=2749"},"modified":"2026-09-08T17:43:03","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T17:43:03","slug":"september-2026-whats-hot-at-auctions-this-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theartsgazette.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/07\/september-2026-whats-hot-at-auctions-this-season\/","title":{"rendered":"September 2026: What\u2019s Hot At Auctions This Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Christ in a Village<\/em>, an oil on board by F. N. Souza, is one of the three works estimated to fetch between Rs 12 crore and Rs 18 crore. Image courtesy: Saffronart<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

Works by Gaitonde, Souza and Dhurandhar appear with the highest estimates<\/h3>\n
<\/div>\n

One of the two big months for Indian art auctions\u2014September\u2014has begun, and as over all previous years, five superlative sales are lined up, which should throw some record-breaking prices, given the current bull run of the Indian art market. Across all these sales (three sales as catalogues are not available for two yet), there are three canvases that are billed at the number 1 spot, each estimated to fetch Rs 12 crore to Rs 18 crore. These are an Untitled<\/em> oil by V. S. Gaitonde (1924-2001), Christ in a Village<\/em> by F. N. Souza (1924-2002) and Shri Mahalakshmi<\/em> by M. V. Dhurandhar (1867-1944).<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a quick look at what\u2019s hot across these five auctions, even though two\u2014Sotheby\u2019s and Astaguru\u2014are yet to release their catalogues. The calendar is as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
S.No.<\/td>\nAuction Name<\/td>\nDate<\/td>\nVenue<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1.<\/td>\nChristie\u2019s South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art auction<\/td>\nSeptember 16<\/td>\nNew York<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2.<\/td>\nSaffronart\u2019s Autumn Auction<\/td>\nSeptember 19<\/td>\nNew Delhi<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3.<\/td>\nPundole\u2019s The Fine Art Sale<\/td>\nSeptember 24<\/td>\nMumbai<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4.<\/td>\nSotheby\u2019s Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art auction<\/td>\nSeptember 29 (catalogue not yet released)<\/td>\nLondon<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5.<\/td>\nAstaguru\u2019s ManiFest sale<\/td>\nTBA<\/td>\nTBA<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

The 18 Most Expensive Works of Indian Art Across September Auctions as per Estimates*<\/p>\n

(*Across 3 auctions as catalogues of the other 2 are not released yet)<\/p>\n

1.Untitled<\/em>, oil on canvas by Vasudeo S. Gaitonde, 1963, 45 \u00bc x 50 \u00bc in. at Pundole\u2019s, Rs 12 crore \u2013 Rs 18 crore<\/p>\n

1.Christ in a Village<\/em>, oil on board by F. N. Souza, 1958, 23.5 x 47.5 in. at Saffronart, Rs 12 crore \u2013 Rs 18 crore<\/p>\n

1.Shri Mahalakshmi<\/em>, oil on canvas pasted on board by Mahadev Visvanath Dhurandhar, 1899, 59.75 x 27.25 in. at Saffronart, Rs 12 crore \u2013 Rs 18 crore<\/p>\n

2.Untitled, <\/em>acrylic on canvas by S. H.Raza, 1989, 39.25 x 39.25 in. at Saffronart, Rs 7.5 crore \u2013 Rs 9.5 crore<\/p>\n

3.Building in Trafalgar Square, <\/em>oil on board by F. N. Souza, 1955, 23 \u00be x 48 in. at Christie\u2019s, USD 600,000 \u2013 USD 800,000 (approx. Rs 5.6 crore \u2013 Rs 7.5 crore)<\/p>\n

4.Village Otta Corse<\/em>, oil on canvas by S. H. Raza, 1958, 23.5 x 28.75 in. at Saffronart, Rs 5 crore \u2013 Rs 7 crore<\/p>\n

5. Kurma Avatar with Savita and Aparajita<\/em>, oil on canvas by A. Ramachandran, 1996, 79.75 x 55.5 in. at Saffronart, Rs 4.5 crore \u2013 Rs 6.5 crore<\/p>\n

6.Untitled, <\/em>acrylic on canvas by Jangarh Singh Shyam (1962-2001), 1999, 91 3\/8 x 69 5\/8 in. at Pundole\u2019s, Rs 4 crore \u2013 Rs 6 crore<\/p>\n

6.Untitled<\/em>, oil on canvas by Manjit Bawa, 2005, 42 \u00be x 32 5\/8 in. at Pundole\u2019s, Rs 4 crore \u2013 Rs 6 crore<\/p>\n

6. Untitled<\/em>, oil on canvas by Krishen Khanna, 2016, 47.75 x 107.5 in. at Saffronart, Rs 4 crore \u2013 Rs 6 crore<\/p>\n

7. Woman with Lamp<\/em>, oil on board by F. N. Souza, 1949, 30 x 24 in. at Christie\u2019s, USD 400,000 \u2013 USD 600,000 (approx. Rs 3.7 crore \u2013 Rs 5.6 crore)<\/p>\n

7. A Progression of Sails<\/em>, oil on canvas by Jehangir Sabavala, 1969, 30 x 50 in. at Christie\u2019s, USD 400,000 \u2013 USD 600,000 (approx. Rs 3.7 crore \u2013 Rs 5.6 crore)<\/p>\n

8. The Red Girl<\/em>, oil on canvas by M. F. Husain, 1952, 48 x 23 7\/8 in. at Pundole\u2019s, Rs 3 crore \u2013 Rs 5 crore<\/p>\n

8. Bindu Panchatatva<\/em>, acrylic on canvas by S. H. Raza, 1996, 47 \u00bc x 47 3\/8 in. at Pundole\u2019s, Rs 3 crore \u2013 Rs 5 crore<\/p>\n

8. Untitled<\/em>, oil on canvas by Manjit Bawa, 1988, 31.25 x 27.5 in. at Saffronart, Rs 3 crore \u2013 Rs 5 crore<\/p>\n

8. Last Supper II<\/em>, reverse painting on acrylic sheet by Madhvi Parekh, 2011, 72.75 x 244 in. at Saffronart, Rs 3 crore \u2013 Rs 5 crore<\/p>\n

8. Untitled<\/em>, oil on canvas by N. S. Bendre, 1968, 39 x 34.25 in. at Saffronart, Rs 3 crore \u2013 Rs 5 crore<\/p>\n

8. Untitled<\/em>, burnt wood, leather, cowrie shells, ceramic bead, cotton cord and mirror by Satish Gujral, 1988, 80.5 x 74.5 x 6 in. at Saffronart, Rs 3 crore \u2013 Rs 5 crore<\/p>\n[\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Works by Gaitonde, Souza and Dhurandhar appear with the highest estimates, pegged at Rs 12 crore \u2013 Rs 18 crore<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[54,55,56,57,53],"class_list":["post-2749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art-market","tag-mfhusain","tag-modernindianart","tag-archanakhareghose","tag-indianart","tag-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theartsgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theartsgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theartsgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theartsgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theartsgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2749"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.theartsgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2754,"href":"https:\/\/www.theartsgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2749\/revisions\/2754"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theartsgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theartsgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theartsgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theartsgazette.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}