Sakti Burman's works of art lay in the attic, got recognition thanks to a Japanese collector

Today, France-based Indian origin artist Sakti Burman’s paintings fetch a handsome sum at auctions. However, there was a time when he and his family didn’t think his artwork had much value. In fact, before a buyer opened his eyes to the commercial worth, many of Burman’s earlier works were left lying around like junk.

Speaking of the time when he was a struggling artist and before he moved to France, Burman revealed that people wouldn’t accept a painting even if you gave it to them. At his home, while his family hung a few of his works, most of the others were kept in the attic. “We were a middle-class family and the house had limited space. So, they put them in places with other junk,” said Burman during his recent visit to Mumbai for his retrospective exhibition organised by Art Musings. “That’s because they [the paintings] didn’t have any commercial value, only aesthetic value. Even I didn’t take care; they are there and it’s fine.”

A fortune visit
Burman realised the true value of his paintings when a Japanese collector came knocking on his door in Kolkata. “I had come down [from France] for a visit when this Japanese gentleman came home. He had heard about me and wanted to see all my paintings,” he recalled. Some of these paintings, he admitted, weren’t in good condition. But the collector bought them all. “They weren’t expensive, but all of a sudden, the things that didn’t have any value, became valuable,” he said.