Saffronart, the world’s largest online fine-art auction house, concluded its annual Winter Online Art Auction on December 9, 2010 with strong results that highlight the continued demand for important works with notable provenance. With a total of 80% of the 100 lots on offer selling, the auction brought an impressive $7.1 million.

As anticipated, the lot illustrated on the catalogue’s front cover, a stunning mural made up of sixteen individual canvas panels by one of India's most prominent and critically acclaimed women artists - Arpita Singh - titled ‘Wish Dream’, achieved a record price for the artist, fetching an astounding $2.24 million. This is also the highest price achieved by an Indian woman artist at auction globally, and a world record price for an artwork sold at any online auction.

Speaking about the record breaking auction, Dinesh Vazirani, Co-founder and CEO of Saffronart said, “We are very pleased with the results of our Winter Online Auction 2010 which was a celebration of our 10th anniversary. This auction was an historic event for the online art auction market with Arpita Singh’s magnificent 16 panel mural titled ‘Wish Dream’ selling for $2.24 million. Throughout the year we have seen a strong demand for works of art of the highest quality and following this sale, a new benchmark has been established in this category.”

Saffronart’s Winter Online Auction of Modern and Contemporary Indian art was marked by exceptional prices for several modernists including artists S.H. Raza, Jehangir Sabavala, F.N. Souza, K.G. Subramanyan and M.F. Husain, demonstrating that the modern masters remain highly sought-after by collectors.