Death won't affect artist Hema Upadhyay's works believes art lover Kiran Nadar

Last year, in the wake of artist Hema Upadhyay’s death, there was speculation about who will end up possessing her last painting ‘Home’. The work found its home eventually with art connoisseur Kiran Nadar in Delhi’s Kiran Nadar Museum of Art. Nadar owned Upadhyay’s works before her death. It was only fitting then that she bought her last too. “I felt I wanted to have this last picture,” says Nadar. The bulk of Nadar’s personal collection is housed in the museum, of which she is the chairman. In a first for the museum, it has collaborated with Tate Modern, London, for a Bhupen Khakhar retrospective that begins in the UK today. For the event, Nadar’s museum loaned three paintings of Khakhar. In a phone conversation with ETPanache, Nadar spoke about her Khakhar collection, Upadhyay’s last work and her $3.5 million purchase of F N Souza’s ‘Birth’.

Can you tell us about Upadhyay’s last work?

It’s a dark and foreboding kind of work. I felt that I owed it to the artist to acquire this work. It’s a serious landscape that might be difficult to put in words. But it’s introspective. We have a couple of paintings of hers and an installation.


Image: Kiran Nadar

Did you know her? Is the artwork more valuable now because of the tragedy associated with it?

I didn’t know her well. It would be difficult to say how people respond. I don’t know. We have lost a lot of artists — M F Husain, VS Gaitonde, Nasreen Mohamedi and Bhupen Khakhar. The reason these works appreciated financially was not because they are no more. It’s the paucity of works available which pushes prices up. As far as Hema is concerned, I don’t know what difference there will be in the price of her works (after her death).


Image: Tina Ambani
How did the Bhupen Khakhar exhibition at Tate Modern come about?

Tate Museum has been planning this show for a while and approached us a year ago. This is the first major show by Tate featuring an Indian artist. They selected three of our works to put in the show. One is ‘Republic Day’, a seminal work which shows the Republic Day celebration. The second work is called ‘The American Survey Officer’, which depicts an American survey officer amongst a lot of greenery. The third is a work called ‘Night’. Last year, you bought F N Souza’s ‘Birth’ for $3.5 million.


Image: Hema Upadhyay



What are your plans for the painting? Did you pay import duty on it?

It took me some time but I have just brought it to India. The painting is in storage at the moment. We will show at the appropriate time. As far as the import duties go, I have a waiver on imported paintings if they are for the museum.


Image: 'Birth'


Image: 'Home'

What is the one artwork that you would love to add to your museum but haven’t been able to?

‘Celebrations’ by Tyeb Mehta. It’s in Japan and I don’t think it’s coming out of there anytime soon.