An untitled sketch by Amrita Sher-gill fetched Rs 70 lakh, surpassing its higher estimate by Rs 10 lakh, at a recently held fundraising auction.
Organised as part of a charity gala in support of the Taj Public Service Welfare Trust, the sale on Saturday fetched a total of Rs 2.79 crore.
The trust, set up in December 2008 in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks, aims at reaching out to people affected by disasters, both man-made and natural, with support to rebuild their lives.
Sher-gill's graphite on paper work was among 25 works of modern art by Delhi Art Gallery (DAG) that went under the hammer.
Also, surpassing expectations was M F Husain's 1982 work titled, "That Obscure Object of Desire", created in water colour, ink and graphite on paper.
The art work that features three cows in the care of the cowherd Krishna, sold for Rs 22 lakh, crossing its higher estimate of Rs 20 lakh.
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"Since our inception in 1993, DAG has always believed in the power of art to impact social change. After our first success of the Charity Gala at The Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai, we are happy to see a similar response in Delhi.
"We are proud to be a part of such a significant cause. All the works featured in the auction had no reserve price or buyer's premium and these artists have been critical to the development of Modern Indian art," auction partner and CEO of DAG Ashish Anand said.
Other artists whose works were part of the sale include S H Raza, Jamini Roy, F N Souza, K H Ara, Sunil Das, G R Santosh, J Sultan Ali, Natvar Bhavsar, Sakti Burman, Avinash Chandra, Krishna Reddy, P T Reddy, Anupam Sud, Bimal Dasgupta, Shanti Dave, Rabin Mondal, Laxman Pai, Madhvi Parekh, Sohan Qadri, Gogi Saroj Pal, Ved Nayar, Shobha Broota and P Khemraj.