Painting has always been considered as an essential part of Indian culture. They also form a sound investment too. We have come up with the list of the most prominent painters famous in the market.
Maqbool Fida Hussain
MF Hussain, also considered as the Picasso of India is a renowned and influential modernist painter from India. He dares to challenge conventions by being both prolific and valuable. It mostly uses cubist technique and themes that is rooted to the history like Gandhi and mythologies and ancient epics. He is credited with 6 lakh paintings. His famous paintings include nude figures of Hindu goddesses. His trademark features are women and horses. But in spite of his influential painting, he was forced to live in exile until he died in 2011.
Syed Haider Raza
SH Raza is another top selling and most valuable Indian artists. He is famous for the vivid use of color in his paintings. They are mostly steeped in Indian ethnography and philosophy. He mostly favors acrylic and oil. Triangles, licks of flame and blue moons are his common motifs. He did successfully undergo an ‘artistic rebirth’ in the 1980s called the ‘Bindu’. His master pieces include La Terre and Saurashtra. Saurashtra being the most expensive Indian painting till date. It was sold for more than Rs16 crores in 2010.
Tyeb Mehta
Tyeb Mehta along with Raza and Hussain is considered the most famous trio of the Bombay Progressive artists. He is known to have taken Indian art to the international scene with his Celebration that was sold for Rs1.5 crore at Christie’s in London in 2002. He is also famous for his other triptychs, a painting in three parts. Those are the Diagonal Series, Falling Figures and Hindu figures like Kali and Durga. His Figure on a Rickshaw is the second most expensive Indian painting to be sold for Rs14 crore till date. He breathed his last in 2009.
Francis Newton Souz
Francis Newton Souza is the founder of the Bombay Progressive art movement as is also considered as the first crossover painter. He maintains a style that is intensely expressionistic and his work is always seen to depict the dark side of human society. You will get a sense of a disturbing, impending sense of doom from his paintings. His Birth was sold for Rs11.3 crores at Christie’s that successfully in setting a record at that time. It was after his death in 2002, more than 140 pictures were sold by Christie’s.
Arpita Singh
Arpita Singh is the most famous contemporary Indian women painter. Her paintings depict common Indian women going about their daily lives. She is considered as the most important woman painter in India after Amrita Sher-Gil, who was known as India’s Frieda Kahlo. Arpita picks elements for her paintings from Bengali folk art. Her paintings are characterized with strong, vivid hues with pink, yellow. Blue is her signature color. Her paintings are regarded as a part of the miniaturist tradition. She has been awarded many a time and her Wish Dreams was sold for Rs9.5 crores in 2010.
Vasudeo S Gaintode
Vasudeo S Gaintode is another famous exponent of abstract art in India. His paintings have been widely exhibited across the world. His work has been rated among the finest work of art. You will feel his paintings to have a dynamic but silent spirit. His compositions show a wide range of experiments with form and color. The use of shading in his paintings reflects his private, meditative nature. In 2006, one of his paintings grabbed Rs 6.5 crore at Christie’s.
Ganesh Pyne
Ganesh Pyne is considered as the most famous exponent of the Bengal School. His paintings are often somber and stark representing death and decay. He actually witnessed the religious riots and the Naxal crackdown in the city which had a major influence in him. His paintings are usually are characterized by light backgrounds with sharp, menacing images in the front. Blue and black are his favorites. Before the Chariot and The Assassin are his famous works of all times. His influence has been seminal on the contemporaries.
Subodh Gupta
Subodh Gupta is famous among contemporaries. He uses installation, sculpture, painting, video and photography in his creations. He normally uses common objects like utensils, milk pails and bicycles. He is known as the ‘Damient Hirst of Delhi’. The materials he uses are strictly Indian but his aesthetic has a global appeal. He has also collaborated with international artists for shows and exhibitions. His creations have been sold for more than Rs3.5 crore.
Chitra Ganesh
Chitra Ganesh is a contemporary artist who has managed to create a niche for herself with her unique, comic-book style of art. Her paintings are mostly seen to have been influenced by mythologies, imperialism and queer politics. She experiments with a wide range of media like drawings, digital collages, murals and installations. Her work also shows elements of surrealism in it. Female sexuality and racial power relations are the most prominent themes. Her work is exhibited in the international market as well.
Jitish Khallat
Jitish Khallat is famous for his obsessive use of self-portraits in his paintings. His style is intensely personal with abstract narratives. He deals with images from print media along with photocopies of other materials and texts. His paintings often look like puzzles as he juxtaposes several materials against each other. His paintings say that art imbibes countless influences from others. His work is exhibited in the international market too.
Akshay Agarwal
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