this story originally appeared in on aug 23 2012 new delhi just over a year since mf husain passed away the coveted paintings of indias most famous artist have turned dearer by as much as a half outstripping returns from all other asset classes investment in gold shares and even real estate fails to match up to husains collectibles such as his latest untitled work on horses which fetched rs 83 lakh for a 1440 sq inch canvas this june while another painting a 2256 sq inch work titled tiger and lady went for rs 1 crore recently not all of husains 60000 works have appreciated by quite as much of course but his more popular paintings reaffirm the trend in the art world where prices often soar after the demise of artists whose works are in demand simply because death spells the end to their oeuvre works of artists such as tyeb mehta fn souza and manjit bawa have also seen sharp rise in prices after they passed away in recent years it is a general rule that the prices of paintings of artists immediately shoot up after they pass away a lot of the price changes however depend on the quality of work says ina puri a delhibased art curator and author of manjit bawas biography she says prices of some of husains quality works have increased 4050 since his death last june including some of his masterpieces such as between the spider and the lamp in contrast gold has appreciated by 185 over the past year while the bse sensex has given a return of 86 naresh kapuria director of art and culture at the lalit hotels says husains british raj which adorns the entrance lobby at the groups delhi hotel is estimated to have appreciated by about 50 to rs 7580 crore tyeb mehtas works pricier than husain besides availability and demand factors such as the sensitivity of the collectors towards the works also determine prices says art conservator historian and curator rupika chawla since his death in 2009 tyeb mehtas works have seen a dramatic rise from 174 lakh per sq ft to rs 25 crore per sq ft as per the cherry art foundation giving investors an annual return of 145 similarly the value of fn souzas works has increased 78 over the past year tyeb mehta was a phenomenal artist whose work is not easily available thats why his works are so expensive husains works are not that expensive because he was such a prolific artist says rajshree pathy noted art collector and chairman of rajshree sugars besides pathy harsh goenka of rpg enterprises rajendra pawar of niit technologies and mv subbiah of the murugappa group are some patrons of husains works in the corporate world besides delhis national gallery of modern art the peabody essex museum in massachusetts jihoji himejibased glenbarra art museum in japan and kolkata museum of modern art have a large collection of husains works however for those who