Osian's Auction Catalogue The Masterpieces and Museum Quality Series | October 2004

143 THE MASTERPIECES & MUSEUM-QUALITY SERIES 102 Biren DE [b . 1926, Faridpur, present-day Bangladesh] March ‘91 S/d in English on verso Oil on canvas, 1991 117.0 x 81.6 cm (46.1 x 32.1 in) Rs. 700,000 – 800,000 $ 15,100 – 17,300 £ 8,275 – 9,475 ‘A central point which is to be found in each of Biren De’s canvases and which constitutes it’s pivot is the invariable center immovably fixed and serenely poised of the unmanifested ( avyakta ) around which other forms of the manifested ( vyakta ) fold and unfold. The importance of this point-limit cannot be missed; it contains the idea of Garbha Griha , the womb-chamber and that of the Universal Soul. To express this union, Biren De uses black, grey, blue and white and red (Purusha and Prakriti) , material cause of the world.’ – Ajit Mookherjee, rpt. in LKC 32 , April 1985; p33.