Ivan Peries painting fetches $ 640,000 at NY auction

Friday, 18 September 2026 00:06 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Well by Ivan Peries

Sets record for Sri Lankan-born artists

A painting by Sri Lankan-born artist Ivan Peries has sold for $ 640,000 at Christie’s South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art auction in New York, setting a new auction record for a work by a Sri Lankan-born artist.

Christie’s described The Well as one of Peries’ most important works, noting it is the only one of his seven monumental “panel paintings” to have been offered at auction. The painting was exhibited at the 1958 Venice Biennale and depicts a rural Sri Lankan coastal scene centred on a village well.

Peries was a founding member of Sri Lanka’s influential ‘43 Group, the collective credited with shaping the island’s modern art movement. He was born in 1921 and died in 1988.