Yashoda and Krishna by Raja Ravi Varma — India's Most Iconic Painting | Museum-Grade Art Print

The most expensive Indian painting ever sold. Now on your wall.

On April 1, 2026, Raja Ravi Varma's "Yashoda and Krishna" sold for ₹167.2 crore ($17.9 million) at Saffronart's Spring Live Auction in Mumbai — shattering every record in Indian art history. The painting was acquired by industrialist Cyrus S. Poonawalla, founder of the Serum Institute of India, who called it "a national treasure."

This is your opportunity to own a museum-grade archival reproduction of this historic masterpiece.

Painted in the 1890s at the height of Ravi Varma's career, the composition captures a moment of extraordinary tenderness. Yashoda, Krishna's foster mother, milks a cow while the infant Krishna — adorned with jewellery, a peacock feather, and a golden dhoti — clings to her from behind, reaching for a golden goblet of fresh milk. It is at once a domestic scene and a divine one — a human mother and a god who chose to be her child.

What made Raja Ravi Varma revolutionary was not his subject but his technique. He was the first Indian artist to master European academic oil painting and apply it to Indian mythological themes — creating images so vivid, so emotionally real, that they became the way an entire nation imagined its gods. His oleograph prints, produced from his own lithographic press established in 1894, brought these images into millions of Indian homes. If you grew up in India, you grew up with Ravi Varma's gods on your walls.

"Yashoda and Krishna" is considered the crown jewel of his work — a painting that art critics have called "the Mona Lisa of Indian art." The composition merges sacred and domestic life with a warmth that transcends religion, culture, and time. A mother. A child. A quiet moment of love. That is its universal power.

This museum-grade archival print reproduces the original with extraordinary fidelity — capturing Ravi Varma's masterful use of light, his luminous skin tones, the rich textures of Yashoda's green silk and Krishna's golden draping, and the soft warmth of the cow in the background. Printed using Epson giclee technology with archival pigment inks on 300 GSM acid-free paper, this print is designed to preserve these details for 80 to 100 years.

Why this painting matters:

• Sold for ₹167.2 crore on April 1, 2026 — the most expensive Indian artwork ever auctioned
• Previously held in a private Delhi collection; acquired by Cyrus Poonawalla (Serum Institute of India)
• Painted in the 1890s by Raja Ravi Varma, widely regarded as the Father of Modern Indian Art
• Called "the Mona Lisa of Indian art" by auction experts
• Depicts the most universal of human themes — a mother's love for her child
• The painting that defined how India imagines its gods

About Raja Ravi Varma (1848–1906): Born into an aristocratic family in the princely state of Travancore (present-day Kerala), Raja Ravi Varma pioneered the fusion of European realism with Indian mythological subjects. He was the first Indian artist to gain international recognition, winning awards at exhibitions in Vienna and Chicago. In 1894, he established a lithographic press to reproduce his paintings as affordable prints — democratising Indian art and placing gods and goddesses in the homes of millions. His influence on Indian visual culture is immeasurable.

Vastu and cultural significance: Krishna paintings are deeply auspicious for Indian homes. The Yashoda-Krishna bond represents divine love, maternal protection, and the presence of grace in everyday life. This painting carries both spiritual significance and immense cultural prestige — a piece of Indian art history on your wall.