vadodara it is not without a reason that vadodara is called the art capital of gujarat the city is making its presence felt in the world of art that has recovered from the covidinduced slowdowna painting of citybased artist late bhupen khakhar was recently sold for rs 1881 crore in a global auctiontitled the banyan tree the oil on canvas painting made by khakhar in 1994 was auctioned by christies auction house on march 23 this year the work shows some people resting and conversing with each other under the banyan trees in the backdrop of hillskhakhars artworks have always been recognized across the country and also globally but over the last few years his paintings are being sold in record figures in fact rs 1881 crore is the highest amount for which khakhars painting has ever been sold said hitesh rana of sarjan art galleryearlier this month a painting draupadi vastraharan made by legendary artist raja ravi varma who stayed in baroda state in the 19th century too was sold for rs 21 crore in an online auctionthe artworks of vadodara artists have been fetching a very good amount for the last few years and it is a very good sign rana told toi khakhar was a selftaught artist who moved from mumbai to vadodara in 1962 when he was in his thirties he was a key figure in the faculty of fine arts in ms universityafter his artworks began travelling globally khakhar also made his first trip abroad in 1976 as a part of the cultural exchange programme organized by the indian government this artists works focused on the daily struggles of the common man and depicted average people his works were often compared to english painter david hockneyin 1984 khakhar was honoured with the padma shri and in 2000 he was awarded the prince claus award at the royal palace of amsterdam his works are on display at the british museum as well as in the us he died in vadodara in 2003 at 69