Starting with international art does not have to feel intimidating. The best entry point is simple: begin small, stay curious, and let the market teach you as you go.

For a new collector, the first move is to keep an open mind toward emerging artists and support them as patrons. Buying their work at auction is a practical way to secure provenance and documentary transparency.

As your eye sharpens, you can move toward Masters whose works are expected to appreciate over time, along with artists who have already appeared in respected art publications and exhibitions. That next step comes from looking closely, learning steadily, and understanding what resonates with you.

Research matters just as much as instinct. Books, magazines, and industry leaders can help you understand art history, movements such as Impressionism, Surrealism, and Expressionism, and the paths international artists have taken. A professional art advisor can also help with international markets, logistics, and legalities.

Auction houses remain a strong starting point, especially when they offer works by established names and handle the practical details around sourcing international art. It is also important to keep the paperwork in order, including a Certificate of Authenticity, provenance, and an invoice.

Read the full story in the premiere issue of LuxeTrope, on stands now.

Suryakant Lokhande’s auction story from 2021 to 2025 is defined by a steady rise in volume. Across the five-year span, he sold 31 lots at auction.

The yearly count moved from 3 lots in 2021 to 6 in 2022, then climbed to 10 in 2023 and 11 in 2024.

S.H. Raza’s top auction lots from 2021 to 2025 pack a serious punch, proving why he’s a cornerstone of the Indian art market. These five standouts racked up massive hammer prices, drawing collectors to his geometric masterpieces.

Gestation tops the list at ₹44,99,20,027 ($5,112,727), a blockbuster that highlights Raza’s commanding presence.

In November 2024, a crypto billionaire named Justin Sun paid $6.2 million (₹54.56 crore) for Maurizio Cattelan’s provocative work—a duct-taped banana—titled Comedian. A few days later, Sun famously ate the banana in front of the media. While the world debated the absurdity of it all, experts and specialists saw a much deeper narrative at play, the intersection of traditional art, internet memes, and the rising influence of digital native wealth. According to the Artprice Contemporary Art Market Report 2025, this is the new reality of a “transvertical” market where barriers between mediums, periods, and even asset classes are rapidly dissolving. In fact, many are calling it “a new reality.”

In 2025, the global art world navigated—and continues to—what is described as a “transforming market” rather than a “shrinking” one. The overarching data from the Art Basel & UBS Global Art Market 2026 report and the Deloitte-ArtTactic Art & Finance Report 2025 describes an ecosystem undergoing a profound structural recalibration. While aggregate global sales fell by 12 per cent in 2024 to an estimated $57.5 billion (₹5.06 lakh crore), the underlying frequency of transactions reached a historic peak of 146,000 lots. It seems the global art market is moving away from a top-heavy structure that’s reliant on a few blue-chip trophies to a broader, higher volume-based market where new collectors—loaded with rising wealth—will play a big role.

In a rising market, the Top 50 Indian artists generated a total turnover of ₹2,226.8 crore at auction in 2025, re-staking their claim toward the $1 billion mark. They sold 1,881 total lots, achieving an average price of ₹1.18 crore per work.

Topping the leaderboard was M.F. Husain at ₹465.8 crore, followed by Tyeb Mehta at ₹305.4 crore, F.N. Souza at ₹268.1 crore, S.H. Raza at ₹142.1 crore, and V.S. Gaitonde at ₹110.1 crore. The Top 3 alone accounted for ₹1,039.3 crore.

Further down, Jehangir Sabavala reached ₹92.3 crore, J. Swaminathan ₹85.2 crore, Krishen Khanna ₹59.6 crore, Ram Kumar ₹50.3 crore, and Manjit Bawa ₹49.7 crore. Amrita Sher-Gil hit ₹44.7 crore, Bhupen Khakhar ₹34.3 crore, Akbar Padamsee ₹33.8 crore, Anish Kapoor ₹31.1 crore, and N.S. Bendre ₹31.0 crore.

The list continued with Raja Ravi Varma at ₹23.1 crore, Rabindranath Tagore ₹22.6 crore, Ganesh Pyne ₹19.8 crore, and others like K.H. Ara, Arpita Singh, Thota Vaikuntam, Nalini Malani, Somnath Hore, Jamini Roy, and more down to Subodh Gupta.

This scale signals structural robustness, with Modern art leading despite Contemporary growth.

Read the full story in the premiere issue of LuxeTrope, on stands now.

Consigning an artwork means giving it to an auction company like AstaGuru to sell on the collector’s behalf. For many collectors and enthusiasts, it is less about financial urgency and more about refining portfolios, collections, and legacies with care.

The process begins with valuation, which determines the right price for a work of art and is often offered as a complementary service by reputed auction houses. Rarity, provenance, and other unique details about the artist or artwork can shape that valuation. Preliminary photographs, along with size, medium, provenance, and dimensions, help assess the prospects of the work.

Auction houses can take two main routes with a consigned piece: they may place it in a public auction or sell it privately. Works valued at a certain threshold may also be exhibited before auction so interested viewers can see them in person. Private sales are handled through trusted advisors, without public auction or exhibition, allowing for bespoke negotiations and greater confidentiality.

The contract is another critical part of the process, covering the reserve price, duration of the deal, marketing responsibilities, and procedures for unforeseen events. It also sets out insurance responsibility, especially important when artworks are physically moved and handled.

Read the full story in the premiere issue of LuxeTrope, on stands now.