India's Art Market and the Museum Gap

The FT recently asked: “What’s fuelling India’s art market surge?” — a timely question, and one that captures the momentum behind a fast-expanding segment of the art market that, until not so long ago, still felt like a kind of blue ocean.

Indian — and to some extent South Asian — art is finally beginning to catch up with other geographic regions, supported by broader economic growth, deeper private wealth and increasing international attention.

What continues to surprise me, however, is how difficult it still is to encounter important art in India in a truly public way, given the relative absence of major museums. Commercial galleries, auction houses and art fairs are helping to fill part of that gap, often thoughtfully through exhibitions and educational programming. Yet much of the most significant art still remains accessible largely through private collections.

The Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in Delhi is world-class in its vision, curation and collection. But it remains striking that Mumbai, of all places, has nothing even remotely comparable.

Looking at the upcoming Tate exhibition of Nalini Malani in London, and the Royal Academy’s recent A Story of South Asian Art, also brings into focus why museums matter in the first place. They do not simply provide walls on which to hang art. They create the conditions for education, research, conservation and public access.

Museums become cultural landmarks in their own right: visible, lasting places that signal a society’s commitment to its artistic history and to future generations.

That is why I hope Kiran Nadar’s example will inspire other Indian collectors to help establish more museums for Indian art in India.

This reflection was prompted by Melanie Gerlis’s recent FT article, “What’s fuelling India’s art market surge?”