Another record sale for artist FN Souza’s 'Birth'?

FN Souza’s 1955 painted 'Birth' will be the star of auction house Christie’s upcoming September sale of South Asian and Modern Art in New York. At the higher end of the estimate, ‘Birth’ is expected to net $2.8 million (Rs 16.8 crore approx).

The painting will be available for a preview, alongside 12 other works, in Delhi on August 20 and 21. When it was sold at a Christie’s auction previously in 2008, it set a world record for Indian art, fetching $2.5 million or Rs 15 crore.

But Souza must beat VS Gaitonde to have a second go at the world record. In 2013, at Christie’s maiden auction in India, an untitled piece by Gaitonde sold for $3.7 million (Rs 22.2 crore approx). It’s a long road to that world record.