Wellington, Sep 30 (IANS): Collectors eager to snap up two rare paintings by late artist Bhupen Khakhar have significantly raised the expected prices at next week's auction in New Zealand, a media report said.

The original $8,000 estimates of each painting -- Red Elephant and Interior Of A Hindu House -- were revised to estimates of $15,000-$30,000 each, the New Zealand Herald cited auctioneer Andrew Grigg as saying on Wednesday.

The distinctive pieces by the leading artist in Indian contemporary art were found in the late artist Roy Dalgarno's basement in Auckland.

"These works are difficult to get hold of and are becoming increasingly popular," Grigg said.

Khakhar, a self-trained artist who started his career as a painter relatively late in his life, was courted for major international exhibitions and even held a solo show at the most famous Museum of Modern Art, the Pompidou Centre in Paris.

He died in Baroda in 2003, aged 69.