FN Souza's 'Houses in Hampstead' goes for $7.5 million at London auction

Goan artist Francis Newton Souza led a record-breaking spree for Indian art at Sotheby's London, with Houses in Hampstead selling for $7.5 million and Emperor fetching $6.9 million

In a continuing spree of record-breaking numbers for Indian art, Goan artist Francis Newton Souza’s 1962 landscape 'Houses in Hampstead' fetched over $7.5 million at a Sotheby’s auction in London, nearly seven times its estimated value, PTI reported on Thursday.

 

The auction, titled Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art, also featured four other works by Souza, with his painting 'Emperor' (1957) selling for $6.9 million, taking the two artworks' receipts to $14.6 million.

 

The sale included pieces by other leading South Asian artists, including Vasudeo Gaitonde, MF Husain, Syed Haider Raza, Ganesh Pyne, Jagdish Swaminathan, and Narayan Shridhar Bendre, all of which raked in a total of $25.5 million, the report added.

 

 

“Our ‘Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art’ sale in London ranks among the highest-value auctions in this category in recent years – and marks the department's highest total in its 30-year history, surpassing the previous record set in March,” said Manjari Sihare-Sutin, co-worldwide head of the Sotheby's auction. “It was thrilling to see seven new world auction records achieved, including twice over for Francis Newton Souza".

 

Other notable works

 

Husain’s 'Chittore Fort' sold for $1.3 million, while Gaitonde made his auction debut with a work fetching $646,901. Pyne’s 'The Dream Conversation' became his highest-grossing artwork, going for $851,186.

 

Sotheby’s described the collection as a “curated group of exceptional works” representing the region’s artistic talent and aesthetic range, according to PTI.

 

Indian art on display

 

This year has proven to be a strong year for Indian art, with several works achieving record prices at auctions both in India and abroad. Last month, Gaitonde’s untitled 1970 painting sold for $7.57 million at Saffronart’s 25th Anniversary Evening Sale in New Delhi.

 

In March 2025, MF Husain’s 1950s mural 'Untitled (Gram Yatra)' fetched $13.8 million at Christie’s in New York, making it the most expensive Indian painting ever. The 14-foot-wide work, depicting scenes from Indian society, is reported to have been acquired by Kiran Nadar, chairperson of the Delhi-based Kiran Nadar Museum of Art. Recently, a museum dedicated to Husain and his art named 'Lawh Wa Qalam: MF Husain Museum' is set to open next month in Doha, Qatar.