What Jagdip Jagpal, the director of the coveted India Art Fair, said about Indian art in December 2018 sounded like the worst irony to the country’s art business a year and a half later. “Indian contemporary art is close to a tipping point, thanks to biennales, residencies, funded initiatives, philanthropy, and a growing awareness of Indian Moderns.” This high note of optimism simply evaporated in thin air, the buoyancy gave way to despondency as the Covid-19 pandemic lashed the country and the government announced a nationwide lockdown in March 2020. The Indian art market, estimated at US dollars 14.6 million in 2017, showed signs of shrinking by close to seven percent within weeks. Desolation and mayhem were palpable in the industry. Almost all auction houses in the country, which accounted for 37% of the art sales the previous year, downed their shutters. Also read: US returns antiquities to India in stolen art investigation The global art market, worth US dollars 64.1 billion in 2019, tanked over 5% within months after the pandemic spread across the world. China, the world’s third-largest art and antique market, suffered a slide of 10% and art sales in India caved in by over 30% between March and June 2020. An Art Basel and UBS report, prepared by Clare McAndrew, the founder of Arts Economics, quantified the impact of the pandemic and lockdown on art sales. In the first half of 2020, the gallery sale plummeted by 36% while the sale of auction houses dipped by 49% during the same period. Bloodshed in the art industry was everywhere in India and beyond.