| The Little Girl in Blue | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Amrita Sher-Gil |
| Year | 1934 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 48 cm × 40.6 cm (19 in × 16.0 in) |
The Little Girl in Blue is an oil painting on canvas created in 1934 near Amritsar, India, by Hungarian-Indian artist Amrita Sher-Gil (1913 – 1941). Under India's Antiquities and Art Treasures Act (1972), the work is a national art treasure and must stay in the country. In 2018, it was auctioned by Sotheby's, Mumbai, fetching US$2.67 million.
Sher-Gil spent her childhood in Hungary and India, and her later teens in France, before returning to India towards the end of 1934. In December of that year, she visited her family's ancestral home near Amritsar, and painted Lalit Kaur Mann, an eight-year-old girl who lived across the road. The painting depicts the girl wearing striking blue clothing and staring into space. It has been seen as Sher-Gil's transition from Paris, where blues and greens were typical, to India, where she worked with more reds and browns.
Mann's mother disliked the painting, seeing it as not a true likeness of her daughter. The painting was subsequently one of 33 of Sher-Gil's works displayed at her successful solo exhibition at Faletti's Hotel in Lahore, British India, held in 1937. It was priced at ₹150 and acquired by the Hungarian art critic Charles Fabri, and remained in his family.