Nine artists broke auction records at Sotheby’s modern and contemporary South Asian sale in New York on March 17, 2025. The sale totaled $16.8 million, more than tripling its low estimate of $4.9 million. The top lot was Jagdish Swaminathan’s triptych *Homage to Solzhenitsyn* (1973), which sold for $4.68 million, far exceeding its estimate. Jehangir Sabavala’s *The Journey of the Magi* (1963) followed at $2.73 million. Other record-breakers included Ganesh Pyne, Madhvi Parekh, Nelly Sethna, Sheikh Mohammed Sultan, Mohan Sharma, and M. Sain.
This sale underscores the growing global demand for South Asian modern and contemporary art, with prices far surpassing expectations. The record results signal that collectors are increasingly looking beyond established Western blue-chip artists, and that auction houses are successfully expanding the market for artists from the region. The strong performance also reflects a broader trend of diversification in the art market, where works by artists from historically underrepresented regions are achieving new price benchmarks.