Sabavala most often worked with oils, creating landscapes, seascapes, and figures and later even cityscapes. Describing his palette as subtle, his fascination lay in working with veiled light and middle tones, practicing a modernist style with a classical element.

He has to his credit thirty solo exhibitions held across India and abroad, the most recent of which Ricorso was exhibited at Aicon Gallery, New York, 2009 and Sakshi Gallery Mumbai in 2008. Sabavala was awarded a Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1977, and the Lalit Kala Ratna by the President of India in 2007.

Jehangir Sabavala passed away in 2011