2025 is the centenary year for artist late Tyeb Mehta of the Progressive Artists Group. To mark this centenary, Indian art auction house Saffronart has chalked up a year-long celebration along with the Tyeb Mehta Foundation. Over the course of this year, both the foundations will honour Tyeb Mehta’s many contributions to art and society with a series of special events and initiatives. The most recent initiative are the Tyeb Mehta Scholarship in partnership with the Tyeb Mehta Foundation and the JJ School of Art. And a limited edition portfolio of 13 prints. Sakina Mehta is happy that Mehta’s legacy will be taken further through the Tyeb Mehta Scholarship. “During his time as a student at JJ School of Art, Tyeb was introduced to many books and artists that encouraged him to paint. He has very fond memories of his time at the college. We hope the scholarship will aid the students further in developing their creative process,” says Sakina Mehta, wife of late artist Tyeb Mehta and Trustee of the Tyeb Mehta Foundation.
The Saffronart Foundation and the Tyeb Mehta Foundation have unveiled a limited-edition portfolio of 13 prints selected by Sakina Mehta, wife of the late artist. These works span his six-decade career and reflect the evolution of his singular artistic voice. This rare collection is priced at Rs3 lakh ($3,550) per portfolio. “It was very difficult for me to select the 13 paintings for the limited edition prints, so I decided to choose one from a different series covering a chronology. This will be a very special limited edition as it takes me back to the times when Tyeb painted these works,” says Sakina Mehta.
Says Dinesh Vazirani, co-founder of the Saffronart Foundation, “Tyeb Mehta was unyielding in his vision and deeply committed to his craft. He redefined the boundaries of artistic expression in India through the powerful imagery of his trussed bulls, unforgiving goddesses, and iconic falling figures. While his paintings are wrought with an unmistakable violence, they also reveal a deep underlying empathy and vulnerability that makes them so compelling. We are honoured to commemorate his legacy with the launch of this limited-edition portfolio of prints, created in collaboration with the Tyeb Mehta Foundation, and look forward to future programming in celebration of Mehta’s remarkable life and contributions over the course of his centenary year.”
The year-long celebration began in March 2025 during the preview of Saffronart’s 25th Anniversary Sale, with a panel discussion titled `Demystifying Tyeb’. Also present at the event were his son Yusuf Mehta, daughter Himani Dehlvi, artist Atul Dodiya, and gallerist Mortimer Chatterjee. The following month, in April, Mehta’s Trussed Bull, 1956, was sold for Rs61.80 crore ($7.27 million) at the 25th Anniversary Live Auction in Mumbai. With this record-breaking sale, at nine times its original estimate, the painting became the second highest value work by an Indian artist sold at auction globally, tied with Amrita Sher-Gil’s The Story Teller, 1937 (also sold by Saffronart in 2023).
Tyeb Mehta (26 July 1925 – 2 July 2009) was one of India’s most celebrated modernist painters, renowned for his bold, emotionally charged works that explored themes of violence, suffering, and the human condition. Born in Kapadvanj, Gujarat, and raised in Mumbai’s bustling Mohammad Ali Road, Mehta’s early experiences — including witnessing the traumatic violence of the Partition — left a lasting impact on his art, often reflected in his stark, powerful imagery. Mehta began his creative journey as a film editor at Famous Studios in Mumbai before graduating from the Sir J.J. School of Art in 1952. He soon became a member of the Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group, a collective that revolutionised Indian art by embracing modernism and moving away from traditional nationalist styles.
Later in the year, the centenary programme will include the release of a short film offering a personal glimpse into Mehta’s life, publications on the artist, and a retrospective exhibition presented at the Saffronart Foundation and the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) booths, in collaboration with The Tyeb Mehta Foundation, at the upcoming edition of Art Mumbai in November.
Featured image: Trussed Bull, 1956. Image courtesy and copyright Tyeb Mehta Foundation.