Painting the town

At a rally in Serampore during the Lok Sabha campaign Narendra Modi mockingly asked Mamata Banerjee “Kya baat hai.. why did (your painting) once sell for Rs 1 crore?” Then he quickly corrected himself to say Rs 1.8 crore.

 

Background

Our CM is multi talented. She is CM but also paints and earns crores by selling her paintings. Her paintings on exhibition were sold in less than a week for over 2 crore rupees. The painting that was sold for the highest amount is Banglar Maa. As Mamata Banerjee said this exhibition is for raising fund for her party. After the overwhelming response from people she said that more of her paintings will come very soon for exhibition.

 

 

Patrons

While Sudipta Sen gets the most press as a supposed mystery buyer, Mamata is in many other notable collections. Confirmed owners of Mamata-art are Harsh Neotia, chairman of Ambuja Neotia, Chandra Kumar Dhanuka, Chairman of Dhunseri, Aditya Agarwal, director of Emami, Mayank Jalan, MD of Keventer, Jagmohan Dalmiya, the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), Jay Mehta, co-owner of KKR.

 

Art Review

The paintings were highly appreciated by painters like Shuvaprasanna and Sameer Aich.

 

"I saw courage and confidence in her work. She may not be Picasso but it’s not easy to take an easel and paint and produce a work of art": Suvaprasanna, artist, The Telegraph. Suvaprasanna was chair of Railways’ Passengers Amenities Committee when Mamata Banerjee was Railway Minister. Ran Paribartan Chai campaign against the Left. Chair of West Bengal Heritage Commission.

 

"Her choice of colour juxtaposition is inimitable. You can compare her to Tagore, who too was an untrained painter. Mamata is able to give some form to her deepest feelings through her landscapes and forms - both animate and inanimate": Jogen Chowdhury, painter. Currently Trinamool nominated MP in Rajya Sabha.

 

Career Graph

1997 -Mamata Banerjee draws twin flowers or joraphool. It becomes her party’s symbol.

 

2005 – Mamata’s first exhibition. Price range Rs 10,000 – 20,000. Proceeds approximately Rs 4 lakh.

 

2007 – Mamata’s second exhibition in the Indian Museum. Price range Rs 100,000. Proceeds approx. Rs 14 lakh. Donated to Nandigram victims.

2011 - Mamata’s third exhibition titled 25 Hours in a Day. 95 canvases. Price range Rs 2-3 lakh. Proceeds over 1 crore rupees. However TMC income statement for 2011-2012 states an income of 3.939 crore rupees from sales of paintings reports The Telegraph. Organised by JagoBangla. Proceeds given to charity and funding Trinamool Congress candidates for the assembly election.

 

2012 – Painting donated by Mamata for Children’s Hope India auction bought for Rs 1.39 lakh or $3,000 by Sundaram Tagore Gallery in New York.

 

2013 – Mamata’s fourth exhibition called A Dreamer's Creation. Approximately 250 paintings marked at three price points – Rs 3 lakh, Rs 2 lakh, Rs 1.5 lakh. Proceeds: Over 1 crore rupees. Donated to Chief Minister's relief fund, Governor's relief fund, Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy (thought TMC claimed it forgot to pay the NGO) and to defray TMC poll expenses in three by-elections.


Achievement

Few Indian painters can boast such an astonishing rise in value from Rs 10,000 to Rs 3 lakh without any major awards or artistic milestones. This would be the envy of any artist especially one who says "I am not a painter. I am just a commoner, I don't know to paint."

 

1.8 crores

As for the Rs 1.8 crore figure that has now surfaced?

 

If it was for 1 painting, there are few living Indian painters who can command that price. At a Saffronart auction M F Husain’s Holy sold for 2.6 crore crores, Francis Souza’s The Priest sold for 1.6 crore rupees, Jogen Chowdhury broke into the crore club with his Situation X selling for 1.5 crore rupees. If it was for multiple paintings, at Mamata's current prices the buyer would have had to buy at current rates 60-120 paintings.

 

Future Prospects

We know that Bengal is not doing well in industry so her Painting initiative can fetch thousands of crores to our state.

 

Assuming her paintings fetches 2 crore rupees each and if she can paint 5 paintings each day, she can earn 10 crore rupees each day making 3650 crore rupees in one year. If some of her leaders also do some painting then it would do wonders for Bengal.
 

We wish her all the best for her painting initiative.