NATIONAL GALLERY OF MODERN ART

The museum features works of art dating from 1850 to the present day. In addition to the permanent collection, occasional exhibitions are organized. It is housed in the former palace of the Maharaja of Jaipur, and features works by many contemporary Indian artists in a variety of styles. The Museum of Modern Art was created at the instigation of Nehru and Maulana Azad, Minister of Education from 1947 to 1958 and considered one of the leading Urdu-language writers of the ^20th century. It opened its doors in 1954.

The museum's 17,000 works enable us to trace the different currents in the history of modern Indian art in a particularly clear and interesting way. It also reveals the liveliness of contemporary Indian art, completely unknown in our country.

Miniaturism. The story begins with miniature painting, a pictorial tradition widely practiced in northern India since the ^10th century. This school is still practiced in Rajasthan and Punjab.

Tanjore and Mysore. You can admire works from the pictorial tradition of Tanjore and Mysore, in southern India. Most are religiously inspired, in a style rich in detail and often enhanced with gold leaf. The Mysore school expressed itself mainly on paper, while the Tanjore school painted on fabric.

European travelers. The movement of travelling artists from Europe was particularly popular with British painters, who travelled to India from 1770 in search of contracts. This tradition lasted until the ^mid-19th century, and most of the works are oils on canvas, using Western techniques sublimated by an Orientalist vision that gives India a mysterious, exotic image.

Company period. This style refers to the period from the ^18th to the ^19th century, under the East India Company. Indian artists, responding to the demands of British colonists, focused on painting flora and fauna, folk traditions, monuments and landscapes. This school is at the crossroads between naturalism and intimacy and the medieval style of miniaturism.

Academic realism. From 1870 onwards, Indian painting took a radical turn. This was mainly due to the apprenticeship of Indian painting technique, and to the public's taste for a realistic, naturalistic vision of the themes depicted. One of the greatest artists of the period was Pastonji Bomanjee, a painter born in Trivandrum (Kerala).

The Bengal School. Launched by Abanindranath Tagore, from Calcutta's famous family of intellectuals, the movement was created in total break with the school of academic realism. Tagore drew on ancient Indian pictorial techniques, materials and forms of expression to create a pan-Indian movement. He would later extend this movement to the whole of Asia by studying Japanese techniques. The result is a nebulous, romantic vision of India, with its landscapes, historical and pastoral scenes.

Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941). This artist, born of an Indian father and Hungarian mother, trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Her first paintings, dating from 1930, reflect European style and lifestyle. Returning to India in 1934, her style became more personal, and she appropriated the colors, textures and vitality of the country. The museum boasts the most important collection of this major artist's work, with no fewer than 100 different canvases.

Jamini Roy (1887-1972). This Bengalese artist drew on traditional folk expression, practicing flat tints and simplified forms. Throughout his career, he used a palette of only 7 different colors.

Shantiniketan school. In 1901, the great poet and artist Rabindranath Tagore founded a small school in the village of Shantiniketan. Education was based on study in the natural environment rather than studio work. The result was works inspired by natural settings where each artist could imprint his or her own vision. Nandalal Bose is one of the major artists of this school.

Abstraction in contemporary Indian art. This section presents works by very different artists who, from the 1950s-1960s onwards, set out in search of purity of line, form and color. Gaitonde, Patel and Mohamedi are among the artists who initiated the movement.

The movements of the 1970s. In the early 1970s, the narrative form turned more towards the mythical and mystical. Artists expressed their fears and obsessions in dreamlike, fantastical ways. Works by KG Subramayan and Prabhakar Barwe reflect this new metaphysical dimension.

Contemporaries. The early 1980s saw the gradual disappearance of the themes that had plagued the "old" artists. Young artists turned to new forms of artistic expression, experimenting with painting, video, photography and the scenarization of three-dimensional elements. Their preferred themes revolve around gender, the environment and urban crisis.

In addition to galleries dedicated to painting, the museum also includes galleries dedicated to sculpture and photography.