When Kiran Nadar surprised husband Shiv with an unusual painting

It didn’t take much time for Shiv Nadar to be drawn into his wife’s passion for art. While wife Kiran is one of the world’s foremost collectors of Indian art, Shiv, the founder of HCL Technologies and a pioneer of India’s IT industry, has been a supportive participant, she recalled recently.

“My first acquisition for our house in Delhi was a very graphic male nude by Rameshwar Broota. It was quite a courageous purchase, and my husband said, ‘What are you doing, buying a painting like this?’ I said, ‘Well, I’ve bought it. If you don’t want the painting, then we have to go and tell the artist’,” she said told an auction house.

“So we drove to Rameshwar’s studio to look at the piece, and once he saw it, my husband was convinced. He said, ‘You know, you are right. We should buy this.’ And he has been very supportive — though maybe not as much as he grumbles — ever since. I would never have been able to build the collection without him,” Kiran said.