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Art Collector Kiran Nadar is reported to have bought M F Husain's 'Untitled (Gram Yatra)' painting which sold for a record Rs 118 crore/Rs 1.18 billion in New York on Wednesday, March 19, 2025.
The painting was hidden in Norway for decades before Christie's auctioned it at New York's Rockefeller Center this week.
The Economic Times newspaper on Friday revealed the buyer to be the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, one of the country's finest museums of Indian art.
While Kiran Nadar refused to comment on the purchase, RPG Enterprises Chairman Harsh Goenka, an art collector himself, confirmed that she had indeed bought the painting, posting on X: 'Indian modern art gets its due! M F Husain's Gram Yatra (1954) breaks the Rs 100 crore barrier, selling for $13.8M to Kiran Nadar.'
According to Christie's, 'The Husain painting is a magnum opus, a cornerstone of his oeuvre celebrating the diversity and dynamism of a newly independent India.'
The 1954 painting, that left India in the year it was completed, comprises 13 unique panels that occupy almost 14 feet across a single canvas, was also known as the 'Volodarsky Husain'.
Who is Kiran Nadar?
Nadar is an Indian philanthropist and wife of HCL Founder and Chairman Shiv Nadar. Their daughter Roshni Nadar Malhotra became India's third richest person earlier this month.
She is known for her contributions to the Indian art world through her personal collection of works by prominent Indian and international artists.
The Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, dedicated to promoting modern and contemporary art of India, is located at NOIDA and Saket in New Delhi.
Kiran Nadar is also one of India's finest bridge players and won a bronze medal at the Asian Games when she was 67 years old.
'While most children of my age were playing video games, I picked up the nuances of bridge!' she told the Hindustan Times in an interview. 'Bridge sharpens your intellectual capabilities and power of thinking.'
She also established the HCL International Bridge Championship in 2003 to promote the sport in India.