G.R. Santosh was born in 1929 in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, India.

In 2005, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Woman (1955), offered in the Indian Contemporary Art: Paintings, Drawings & Sculpture by Osian's, which concluded on 09 February 2005 at Mumbai, achieving a sale price of ₹6,90,000 ($15,811). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

This was a very significant period for Santosh, as he is learning under N.S. Bendre at the M.S. University of Art at Baroda. His experiments with cubism tinged with the romance and love for his Kashmiri homeland and people creates this evocative work. 1957 was also the year he was nominated for his first National Award from the Lalit Kala Akademi.

In 1997, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Boat Woman in Kashmir (1958), offered in the Indian Contemporary Art by Christie's, which concluded on 04 June 1997 at London, achieving a sale price of ₹1,07,704 ($3,011). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 2004, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Lovers In The Window (1959), offered in the Indian and Southeast Asian Art: Including Modern Indian Paintings by Sotheby's, which concluded on 24 September 2004 at New York, achieving a sale price of ₹4,96,152 ($10,800). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 2003, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Untitled (1962), offered in the Fn-Fn: Figurative Non-Figurative Narration: Auctions of Indian Modern & Contemporary Paintings & Books by Osian's, which concluded on 27 November 2003 at Mumbai, achieving a sale price of ₹3,08,000 ($6,712). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 2023, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Enlightenment (1962), offered in the Winter Live Auction by Saffronart, which concluded on 13 December 2023 at Mumbai, achieving a sale price of ₹80,40,000 ($96,867). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

‘I am not literally abstract; there is much of the influence of my environment and atmosphere – I mean, of Kashmir’… The conical forms which we perceive in Santosh’s paintings can be traced to Kashmir: to the coniferous trees, the Kashmiri cap, the jagged roofs of Kashmiri houses, even the mountain peaks. The blues, the greys, the browns – all of which often tend to the pure whiteness of the Himalayan ranges – in Santosh’s paintings prove this point. ‘I am inspired by Kashmir intensely. It is in my blood. When I see other things in other places, the image of Kashmir haunts me with its naked and over laden peaks, the engulfing whiteness of winter and the tall, dark trees rising majestically into the skies’, says Santosh. The artist sensed the possibility of a kind of severity and rigidity in the delineation of this conical form, which might have led him to texture in order to relieve the all too precise structure, to add a new formal dimension. This feeling for Kashmir landscape has grown more subjective during the years he has been away from home.

In 2007, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Untitled (1965), offered in the Masterpieces and Museum Quality Series VIII by Osian's, which concluded on 31 January 2007 at Mumbai, achieving a sale price of ₹38,40,000 ($86,937). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

I feel there are only two alternatives before everyone of us, in regard to the insurmountable problems before us. Either we have to renounce life and this world and go to the Himalayas or be part of the grand muddle of life as we know it. My own inclination is to go through the phenomenal world which in any case no one can avoid. Then why not accept it with equanimity, this world of maya, and try to sublimate some aspect of experience of life. This is the only tantric basis I have relied upon in my work. I am convinced that pleasure is no sin. In fact, contentment is bliss. Sex is an act of life, and I regard it as a symbol of all desire. And it has been so from times immemorial. Even the Buddha could not quell it in his followers. Indeed sex became taboo; it only went underground and was indulged in secretly. And those who believed in it as a necessary discipline made a secret cult of it. Sex and desire are never regarded as an end in themselves, but a means of self-realisation. It is a questing of knowing, and knowing fully to the point of satiation, before transcending its hold.

In 2002, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Untitled (1971), offered in the Modern and Contemporary Indian Paintings by Bowrings, which concluded on 21 March 2002 at Mumbai, achieving a sale price of ₹1,60,000 ($3,282). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 1995, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Untitled (1977), offered in the Contemporary Indian Paintings: From The Chester and Davida Herwitz Charitable Trust by Sotheby's, which concluded on 12 June 1995 at New York, achieving a sale price of ₹25,281 ($805). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 1995, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Untitled (1978), offered in the Contemporary Indian Paintings: From The Chester and Davida Herwitz Charitable Trust by Sotheby's, which concluded on 12 June 1995 at New York, achieving a sale price of ₹99,303 ($3,162). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 2006, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Untitled (1990), offered in the Indian and Southeast Asian Art: Including Modern Indian Paintings by Sotheby's, which concluded on 29 March 2006 at New York, achieving a sale price of ₹25,47,330 ($57,000). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 2023, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Untitled (1990), offered in the South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art by Christie's, which concluded on 20 September 2023 at New York, achieving a sale price of ₹57,69,592.29 ($69,300). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 2023, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Untitled (1991), offered in the Modern Treasures by Asta Guru, which concluded on 02 September 2023 at Online, achieving a sale price of ₹49,41,044 ($59,772.04). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 2017, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Untitled (The Temple of the Divine) (1992), offered in the Modern & Contemporary Indian Art by Asta Guru, which concluded on 23 August 2017 at Mumbai, achieving a sale price of ₹44,52,800 ($69,436.99). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 2025, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Untitled (1992), offered in the South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art by Christie's, which concluded on 19 March 2025 at New York, achieving a sale price of ₹2,50,68,163.68 ($289,800). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 2011, Awakening A Retrospective of G. R. Santosh marked a major milestone in the exhibition history of G.R. Santosh, offering a retrospective survey of the artist's artistic production