Shyamal Dutta Ray was born in 1934 in Ranchi, Present-day Jharkhand, India.

The decorations in Dutta Roy’s paintings are not for decoration’s sake. It has some other significance. His line-intricate decorations or design instill in our minds a feeling of mystery. If all the space gets filled up in small linear patterns on the canvas and is accompanied by a proportionate use of colours, naturally a kind of ghostly region full of light and darkness develops. Shyamal Dutta Roy has selected such an outlook where the mystery of life derives its full and perfect shape through manifold scribbles of designs and patterns.

In 1999, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of The Arrival (1963), offered in the Intuitive-Logic - The Next Step: Auctions of Indian Art - Classical, Folk, Tribal, Modern & Contemporary Traditions by HEART, which concluded on 28 November 1999 at New Delhi, achieving a sale price of ₹1,99,500 ($4,597). 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 2007, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of The White Rose (1963), 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 ₹21,60,000 ($48,902). 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.

The decorations in Dutta Roy’s paintings are not for decoration’s sake. It has some other significance. His line-intricate decorations or design instill in our minds a feeling of mystery. If all the space gets filled up in small linear patterns on the canvas and is accompanied by a proportionate use of colours, naturally a kind of ghostly region full of light and darkness develops. Shyamal Dutta Roy has selected such an outlook where the mystery of life derives its full and perfect shape through manifold scribbles of designs and patterns.

In 2023, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of The Leader (1972), offered in the Spring Online Auction: South Asian Modern Art by Saffronart, which concluded on 17 March 2023 at Online, achieving a sale price of ₹58,20,000 ($70,976). 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 1997, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of The Baul Singer (1979), offered in the The Intuitive-Logic II: Modern & Contemporary Indian Paintings, Drawings, Graphics, Sculpture & Tapestry by HEART, which concluded on 15 November 1997 at Mumbai, achieving a sale price of ₹60,000 ($1,633). 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 1997, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of The Broken Bowl (1981), offered in the The Indian Sale by Sotheby's, which concluded on 08 May 1997 at London, achieving a sale price of ₹53,422 ($1,492). 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 2005, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Relic (1983), offered in the Masterpieces and Museum Quality Series: Indian Contemporary Art by Osian's, which concluded on 02 December 2005 at Mumbai, achieving a sale price of ₹5,17,500 ($11,220.73). 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.

To say that Shyamal Dutta Ray is by far the most creative water colourist in the country today would be saying the obvious… There was a time when Shyamal would pick up some visible objects, beings or aspects of seen situations, from his milieu and render them into decorative designs by his superb draughtsmanship. He would transform the picked up objects into linear motifs, re-arrange the linear shapes into decorative designs of linear forms and kaleido-scopically broken up colour planes. Yet, in spite of the overwhelming decorativeness of the design, the motifs he would pick up for emphasis and the situations he would conjure up, would unmistakably reveal an injured concern for the circumstantial predicament of the underprivileged… Shyamal would add extra significance to a common place object or to a social stereotype by placing it at the focal point or by increasing the relative size of the motif or by some other pictorial devise. The motif would thereby tend to become the visual image of an associated non-visual concept… He takes up common enough motifs like a boat or a door, or a staff, or a bowl, or a chair, or a goat, or a flock of pigeons, or a skeletal man or a predatory beast, sets it in an absolutely non-descriptive assemblage of other motifs, in completely out of proportion sizes with other things – thus making it a symbol of a state or a concept, rather than the image of a phenomenal object. By iconographic transformation of a common enough man, and placing him in a painted situation of objects and atmosphere, he makes the man a tormentor and a killer.

In 1996, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Conversation (1987), offered in the Modern and Contemporary Indian Paintings: One Hundred Years by Sotheby's, which concluded on 08 October 1996 at London, achieving a sale price of ₹38,948 ($1,093.89). 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 1997, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Untitled (1990), offered in the Modern and Contemporary Indian Paintings by Sotheby's, which concluded on 10 October 1997 at New York, achieving a sale price of ₹62,462 ($1,725). 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 (1993), offered in the Collector's Choice: Modern Indian Art by Asta Guru, which concluded on 27 June 2025 at Online, achieving a sale price of ₹83,82,673 ($97,974.89). 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 2005, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Untitled (1997), offered in the Indian And Southeast Asian Art: Including Modern And Contemporary Indian Art by Christie's, which concluded on 21 September 2005 at New York, achieving a sale price of ₹3,16,224 ($7,200). 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 1999, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Benares Ghats (1998), offered in the Modern and Contemporary Indian Paintings by Bonhams, which concluded on 16 June 1999 at London, achieving a sale price of ₹71,144 ($1,647). 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 Sketch Book (1999), offered in the Masterpieces & Museum Quality Series VI: With Rare Drawings and Books on Indian Contemporary Art by Osian's, which concluded on 01 March 2006 at New Delhi, achieving a sale price of ₹19,55,000 ($44,081). 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.