Masters of Luxury: Roshini Vadehra on Building Legacies in Indian Art

Over the past two decades, Roshini Vadehra has redefined the role of the gallerist in South Asia. As the director of Vadehra Art Gallery in New Delhi, founded by her father, Arun Vadehra, in 1987, she has steered the institution with the balance of inheritance and intent. Legacy, in her hands, places India’s modern masters in conversation with contemporary and emerging voices.

Yet Vadehra’s influence extends well beyond the gallery walls. A collector, patron, and advocate, she has been instrumental in shaping long-term support systems for the arts. In 2007, she co-founded the Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art (FICA), helping build critical infrastructure for artists, curators, and discourse. Beyond this, she has also contributed to landmark moments such as Arpita Singh’s retrospective at the Serpentine Gallery. Her larger cultural mission is clear: to ensure South Asian art is not merely visible globally, but deeply understood, critically engaged, and celebrated.

Robb Report India (RRI): How investment-friendly is art today?

Roshini Vadehra (RV): As a gallerist, I don’t really encourage people to buy art purely as an investment because I feel there are serious risks attached to it. By the time you pay capital gains tax and commissions while selling a work, there may not be that much left.

Having said that, of course, many people have made a lot of money through art over the years. Those who had the right vision, taste, and luck—and those who have picked the right pieces and held onto them, often for more than a decade—have made enormous sums of money when they chose to part with them.

But as a gallerist, I tend to be conservative. I tell people to buy art for the love of it. Of course, I always expect everyone’s money to remain safe, so that is something we keep in mind while making a serious acquisition. Beyond that, the rest is often left to luck.

RRI: As a collector yourself, what are the things you keep in mind while choosing a particular piece?

RV: I allow myself to be quite instinctive and often act impulsively. Over the years, I’ve gone through phases—wanting to buy more photography, then more international art, followed by women artists.

Today, however, the most important thing for me is to buy the works of an artist whose journey I can be a part of. Increasingly, I’ve been focusing on South Asian art or artists I represent, because I have the luxury of spending time with them in their studios and truly understanding their journey. I feel extremely privileged to be able to do that.

RRI: Tell us about a few South Asian artists you think the world should know about right now.

RV: An artist the gallery feels very strongly about is Arpita Singh. She had an incredible moment this year when the Serpentine Gallery presented her solo retrospective in London—it was truly one-of-a-kind.

Other artists I deeply admire include Sudip Patwardhan, who I believe is also having a significant moment now. He’s not only a remarkable artist but also a wonderful person, which helps. Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh is another, who recently had a retrospective at the Kiran Nadar Museum. And then there’s Shilpa Gupta, a contemporary conceptual artist whose work is reaching audiences across the world and gaining well-deserved recognition.

RRI: How do you think the art kaleidoscope in India has evolved over the last two decades?

RV: I think collectors today are far more evolved and educated than they were two decades ago. The internet has played a massive role, as has social media. COVID, in some sense, also gave an incredible push to the art world, as everyone went online, saw much more, and began wanting to engage with this world.

RRI: How do you envision the future of Vadehra Art Gallery over the next two decades?

RV: My father was extraordinarily ambitious when it came to Indian art as a whole. His ambition wasn’t limited to the gallery. He was focused on building the Indian art market itself. He took steps that had never been taken before, whether it was facilitating the first Christie’s Indian art auction by approaching their London office, or encouraging the National Gallery of Modern Art to host its first exhibition of a living artist.

At every step, he broke barriers. Much of what he achieved was rooted in the relationships he built—with artists, collectors, and institutions—and in the goodwill he received from the community. I hope to continue that journey, whether through participating in international art fairs, staging exhibitions across the world, or bringing international art to India.

RRI: What lessons have you learned over the years that you’d like to share with those considering a similar path?

RV: The most important lesson I’ve learned is the value of relationship building. Whether it’s with artists, collectors, or our internal team at the gallery, relationships go above and beyond everything else.

For gallerists starting out, I’d advise building trust and goodwill with fellow gallerists, artists, and collectors. For collectors, I’d suggest spending time with other collectors, curators, and gallerists. More than anything else, that’s what truly works.

RRI: Are there artists who have particularly shaped your perception of what art means to you today?

RV: Growing up, I spent a lot of time around the masters—people like M.F. Husain, Ram Kumar, and Tyeb Mehta. Husain would often stay at our home and became almost a grandfather figure to me. Those memories are deeply treasured.

When I began my career in 2004, I was fortunate to work on extraordinary exhibitions. One of my earliest shows featured works by Rabindranath Tagore, Amrita Sher-Gil, and Jamini Roy—pieces that were hanging in this very gallery. Today, I can hardly imagine such a moment happening again.

One of the first contemporary exhibitions I worked on was Anju Dodhia’s, during the boom years of the industry. I saw collectors fighting over works, and it was incredibly exciting. That’s when I realised what a privilege it is to be part of this world.

RRI: What does art mean to you?

RV: Art has truly become my life. I live, breathe, and sleep art. It’s everything that I am today.

RRI: Are there artists from the past you would have loved to engage with?

RV: There are three artists I regret not having met. One is V.S. Gaitonde—his work is sublime, and I know he was a very reticent man. Another is Bhupen Khakhar, whose work I deeply admire. I don’t own one of his works yet, but I hope to someday. I hear he had an incredible sense of humour and broke many barriers through his art.

And then there’s F.N. Souza, one of my favourite artists ever. He was controversial, to say the least, and not always pleasant—which is precisely why I would have liked to meet him.

RRI: What is the one artwork that is dearest to you as a collector today?

RV: It would have to be the first work I ever bought—Hug by Anju Dodhia, from one of the first exhibitions I worked on. It’s extremely special to me.