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Portaying India: North India with Amrita Sher-Gil
Portraying India
Perceptions of India, inspired by the lives of those who embody its most authentic spirit
In this edition, we look at North India from the perspective of artist and painter Amrita Sher-Gil
It is said that the true measure of one’s life is not in the number of days that they are alive but in what they do with those days. There is no better example of this adage than Amrita Sher-Gil. Born in Budapest on January 30, 1913, to a Sikh aristocrat and a Hungarian Opera Singer, she died at 28, with recognition across the West as the foremost woman painter from India. During her lifetime, she broke the glass ceiling that kept women from achieving success in artistic pursuits and put India on the global art map.
Sher-Gil’s art has influenced generations of Indian artists from Sayed Haider Raza to Arpita Singh and her depiction of the plight of women has made her art a beacon for women at large both in India and abroad. The Government of India has declared her works as National Art Treasures. Her work is deemed to be so important to Indian culture that when it is sold in India, the Indian government has stipulated that the art must stay in the country – fewer than ten of her works have been sold globally.
Born to be an Artist
A young Amrita with her sister
Amrita started to learn the nuances of painting when she was just eight. When she was 10 years old, her mother Marie moved them to Italy where she joined Santa Annunziata, a famous art school in Florence. At 16, Amrita started to train under Pierre Vaillent and Lucien Simon at Grande Chaumiere and also received formal training at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. During her stay in Paris, she was greatly influenced by European painters like Paul Cézanne and Paul Gauguin. At age twenty, her interest in Europe and its culture started to wane. Having grown up tremendously privileged, when she first returned to India, she was unaware of the culture in the country. In 1937, she began her journey to the southern parts of India and was deeply moved by the plight of many villagers and unprivileged people. This started reflecting in her works and eventually gave rise to paintings such as ‘Brahmacharis’, ‘Bride’s Toilet’ and ‘South Indian Villagers Going to Market’.
Brahmacharis by Amrita Sher-Gil
Bride’s Toilet by Amrita Sher-Gil
“Europe belongs to Picasso, Matisse, Braque and many others. India belongs only to me”
Painting the Women of India
Three Girls by Amrita Sher-Gil
Travelling across the country and equipped with unusually heightened sensitivity, even for an artist, Amrita was confronted with her identity as a privileged Indian woman. Touted as the ‘Frida Kahlo’ of India, Amrita had a skill for painting the silent plight of Indian women with her nuanced techniques. She painted women going to the market and at home, whether alone or with other women. Her paintings served as a counter-narrative to the representation of women as obedient by showing feelings that represented desire and loneliness.
In the New York Times Overlooked No More Obituary for her, Teriro Mzezwa writes, “The melancholic painting “Three Girls” for instance, shows women wearing passive expressions, their solemn brown faces a contrast to the vibrant reds, greens and ambers of their clothing. The mood is despondent, as though the women are waiting for something they doubt will ever come along.
Self-Portrait by Amrita Sher-Gil
Discovering the North
Delhi, an art-lover’s paradise
Other than being the political capital of the country, Delhi has always been home to great art – from architecture to sculpture. Today, most of Amrita Sher-Gil’s paintings hang at the National Gallery of Modern Art. When you’re done gawking at the beauty of the city, you can head out for street food in Old Delhi.
Simla, the crown Jewel
Simla, a huge draw for tourists, is also a key city in the story of India’s evolution. It used to be the Winter Capital of the British Government in India and has been witness to important political moves of the time. The city bears markings of a bygone era set against the liveliness of tourists finding joy in simple things (and spectacular weather)!
While you’re in North India..
You can also explore Chandigarh and Amritsar. Chandigarh, the dream city of India’s first Prime Minister, Sh. Jawahar Lal Nehru, was planned by the famous French architect Le Corbusier and is a hub for architecture lovers. Amritsar, the home to Golden Temple, is a city seeped in spirituality. It is the perfect example of the authentic Punjabi culture that is at the core of Amrita’s upbringing.
Recommendations for Further Exploration
To Read
Amrita Sher-Gil – This is Me
To Read
Virtual Tour, an Unfinished Journey by National Gallery of Modern Art
Making of Modern Indian Art: The Progressives by Yashodhra Dalmia
At Tushita, we marvel at India with you. After 45 years of travelling the country, we’re still enamoured by its beauty every day. From Ladakh, where Tushita was anointed by a Buddhist monk in 1977, to Tamil Nadu, where we worked with locals to showcase one of the oldest cultures in the world, we are partners in your journey to discover our part of the world.
Where should we go today?