The Indian art market has matured significantly in the last few years. This is evident from the increasing interest of galleries and institutions abroad in the country’s art fairs. Taking stock of 2025, the Indian art world made progress, and Mumbai also had a role in it. From Bombay Progressive’s artworks selling for high prices at auctions to global interest in art fairs like Art Mumbai as a hub for talent acquisition in India.
According to reports, MF Hussain village trip Historically sold at Christie’s for ₹118 crore ($13.7 million), making it the most expensive modern Indian painting ever sold at auction. Work by VS Gaitonde (1970) sold for ₹67.08 crore Safronart’s 25th anniversary evening sale in Delhi fetched a record ₹355.77 crore ($40.2 million) – the highest ever total for a South Asian art auction globally. Tyeb Mehta’s trapped bull (1956) sold for Rs 61.8 crore, the highest auction price of the late artist’s career in his centenary year.
And, Art Mumbai 2025 emerged as a turning point for the Indian art market, bringing South Asian and international art into dialogue on a global scale. As the Art Mumbai weekend began, a team from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) flew to Mumbai to tour the fair as well. The visit was LACMA’s first visit to India in an official capacity. Two major announcements were made, artist Bharti Kher’s show at LACMA in 2027 and the acquisition of Bhasha Chakraborty.Artwork that will be displayed in the museum.
A view of the David Geffen Gallery at LACMA, including the La Brea Tar Pits Lake Pit and the pavilion for Japanese art with giant sculptures. | Photo Credit: © Ivan Ban
(From left) Akshat Rajan, Rachel Du, Rajeev Menon, Nina Regenstreif, and Tracy O’Brien. | Photo Credit: Courtesy Saurabh Das
Providing a platform to the Asian diaspora
Led by Michael Gowan, CEO, and LACMA Director Wallis Annenberg, the tour began with a dinner hosted by Isha Ambani, one of the museum’s trustees. Later, art curator Akshat Rajan hosted a dinner to highlight LACMA’s Asia and Asian Diaspora Initiative (LAADI), a new venture that aims to build community.
The city of Los Angeles is home to more than 1.5 million Asian-Americans and has one of the largest South Asian immigrant communities. Then again, LAADI is both a recognition of that migrant and an opportunity. “LAADI was conceived as a dynamic support system to formalize and enhance this commitment,” says Rachel Du, LACMA’s major gifts officer. [to the diaspora]Ensuring that Asian and Asian diaspora art plays an integral role in both our galleries and our community engagement.
Rajan, an early supporter of the initiative, elaborated, “It helps LACMA’s global cultural offerings and the presence of the Asian community at art fairs. From a strategy perspective, it also helps define what LACMA is going to achieve.” On that front, it was announced that Bhasha Chakraborty’s Self-Portrait as Mumtaz Mahal on a Shahjahan period carpet in Frick (Untimely Death) 2023 was acquired by the museum.
The Honolulu-born artist graduated from Yale School of Art and has been an artist in residence at Hampi Art Labs. Dhyanandra Lawson, Andy Song Associate Curator of Contemporary Art at LACMA, says,[The painting] resonated at LACMA because it directly challenged the hierarchy among European ‘fine arts’; and Asian ‘crafts’; which have been established by Western trained scholars and reinforced by museums over generations. The artist’s choice to paint on burlap is particularly fascinating – it is both a traditional carpeting material and a support for classical oil painting.
Bhasha Chakraborty’s Self-Portrait as Mumtaz Mahal on a Shahjahan period carpet in Frick (Untimely Death) 2023 has been acquired by LACMA. | Photo Courtesy: Rajeev Menon Contemporary
LA to Mumbai: Sister Cities
Being in a city with a lot of star wattage gives the arts the spotlight. Mumbai’s Rajeev Menon, founder of Rajeev Menon Contemporary, an L.A.-based gallery that highlights South Asian art, was also present, said, “Bombay and L.A. are like long-lost sister cities. Both thrive on creativity and understand the value of the entertainment industry,” citing the example of LACMA’s annual Film + Arts festival. Aparajita Jain, director of Nature Mort, agrees. She represents Bharti Kher, who will be the first living Indian artist to get a solo show at the museum in 2027. Jain says, “LA and especially Hollywood dictates world culture in a very strange way. Bollywood and Hollywood are popular culture, and LA is a hub of creativity – from music to theater and many different things.”
Artist Bharti Kher. | Photo courtesy: S. Anandan
An aerial view of the LACMA buildings, including the David Geffen Gallery, in the Miracle Mile neighborhood. | Photo Credit: © Ivan Ban
The three-year-old Art Mumbai has become a fixture on the country’s cultural calendar. “Art Mumbai presented an invaluable opportunity to deepen our understanding of contemporary Indian art practices and strengthen partnerships within the region,” says LACMA’s Du, “in a city that knows as much about creativity as it does glamour. Menon believes, “Art Mumbai is important because it is an opportunity to experience the broad landscape of this country in a very well-curated concise fair.”
Programs like LAADI are one way to ensure that expatriates and museums can network and build connections between LACMA and the larger art world in Asia. “I think South Asia, in general, is at a turning point when it comes to the art world,” says Riya Kuruvilla, Frieze’s VIP advisor for India, who hosted the LACMA delegation at her art-filled home, adding that global institutions are now “paying attention to the region.”
In the context of promoting Asian diaspora art outside India, ahead of the India Art Fair in Delhi from 5-8 February, LACMA will host two events, one each in Singapore and Bangkok, both with LAADI Co-Chair Kulpat Yantrasast.
published – January 14, 2026 05:46 PM IST