India is a nation with varied beliefs, diverse religions, and a vast assortment of artworks. Not many know but India is one of the greatest treasure holders when it comes to art. You can find varied types of Indian paintings, artefacts, sculptors, music, dance, movies, novels, poems, etc. There is simply no limit to what extent creativity can flourish in the land of multiple ethnicities.

Art in India has been riding a roller coaster train (figuratively) from the last 1000 years, as far as it is recorded. If we talk about the Pre-historic records, art has been beautifying many caves of forgotten civilisations at a time when people didn’t even know how to write. The thought of the existence of art even in the dark or stone age simply gives me Goosebumps.

Today, the picture has become more evolved. Art has evolved. The people who love art has matured. And the entire definition of what art is has been revamped and given a totally crisp face.

Being an art zealot, you must be knowing that the present time is the epoch of contemporary artworks. I expect my readers to be familiar with contemporary art. Nevertheless, if you aren’t so sure, let me brief it for you.

Please do not get confused between what is modern art and what is contemporary. Modern art, which started from the mid-19th century till the mid of 20th century has a different source of origination.

When Modern art was introduced to the world, India was chained in the barbaric colonial rule of the British. People weren’t openly allowed to express themselves. British were so reluctant that they even introduced the academic style of art into Indian art schools.

Modern art, on the other hand, was flourishing ferociously in the European and American content with full flow. Do you know what inspired modernism?

(We are talking about modernism first because it connects the missing dots of Indian contemporary art as a whole)

Modernism was basically a successful attempt from the artists to reject the traditional style of art taught in school for hindered of years. After the industrial revolution, modernism started. Artists were extremely irritated with the ongoing monotonous and uninspiring art trends where all they had to do is imitate a physically visible object on the canvas.

Many experts argued that traditional art doesn’t stimulate creativity. All in all, Modernism inspired artists to experiment and that’s what they did. India, on the other hand, was dealing with an identity crisis, both on the political and artistic end, was feeling the scarcity of visionary artists.

Some stood up and a few of them actually won accolades. Raja Ravi Varma is called the father of modern art in India. The contemporary versions of paintings, artefacts, frescos, etc., everything started with this man.

Varma started the modern painting trend in the mid-1800s and even won several awards on the global awards including the prestigious medals at the Vienna exhibition in 1873. His inspiration was India society and Indian women.

Another name to be taken in building the foundation of Indian contemporary art structure is M.F.Husain. He is called the ‘Picasso of India’ and rightly so have come up with some mind-boggling works.

Then there was Ram Kumar, who was a banker by profession but was hit by destiny and became an artist. He was one of the few artists who took abstraction and modernism at a peak level with his quirky and unique outlooks.

Francis Newton Souza, another prominent artist who defined the border of Indian art in contemporary terms. He lived his most of life as an artist abroad but never missed to include the cultural and inherited touch of India in his works.

The Indian contemporary art is not complete without mentioning the name of Syed Haider Raza. He was one of the greatest contemporary art painters that still inspires artists of our generation. His idea of ‘bindu’ in his artworks defines a pure contemporary outlook to various types of Indian paintings.

Indian art is on the verge of touching heights with multiple million dollars sold artworks flowing in the market. After independence, Indian art exploded tremendously.

With the renowned art gallery such as Christie’s now opening full-time stores in India, there is absolutely no doubt that Indian contemporary paintings are going to entice foreign art collectors for sure.

A number of online art galleries also opened up signifying the great upsurge of Indian art. Paintings are available at the tip of your fingertips and you don’t have to pay millions of dollars as there are many affordable pieces available for art lovers.  

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