Amrita Sher-Gil (30 January 1913 – 5 December 1941) was a Hungarian–Indian painter. She has been called "one of the greatest

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

women artists of the early 20th century" and a pioneer in modern Indian art. Drawn to painting from an early age, Sher-Gil started formal lessons at the age of eight. She first gained recognition at the age of 19, for her 1932 oil painting ''

Young Girls "Young Girls" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bruno Mars. It was composed by Mars, Philip Lawrence (songwriter), Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine, a songwriting and record production trio known as the Smeezingtons, as well as Jeff Bhasker, ...

''. Sher-Gil depicted everyday life of the people in her paintings. Sher-Gil traveled throughout her life to various countries including Turkey, France, and India, deriving heavily from precolonial Indian art styles as well as contemporary culture. Sher-Gil is considered an important painter of 20th-century India, whose legacy stands on a level with that of the pioneers from the

Bengal Renaissance The Bengal Renaissance (), also known as the Bengali Renaissance, was a cultural, social, intellectual, and artistic movement that took place in the Bengal region of the British Raj, from the late 18th century to the early 20th century. Histo ...

. She was also an avid reader and a pianist. Sher-Gil's paintings are among the most expensive by Indian women painters today, although few acknowledged her work when she was alive.

Early life and education

Amrita Sher-Gil was born Dalma-Amrita on 30 January 1913, at 4 Szilágyi Dezső square, Budapest, then part of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

.Sundaram, pp. xxi-xliii Her father was Umrao Singh Sher-Gil Majithia, an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

Jat The Jat people (, ), also spelt Jaat and Jatt, are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, many Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in l ...

Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...

aristocrat from the Majithia family and a scholar in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

and

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, and her mother was

Marie Antoinette Gottesman Marie Antoinette Gottesman (4 February 1881–1948) was a Hungarian socialite, opera singer, sister of Ervin Baktay, wife of Umrao Singh Sher-Gil and mother of the artist Amrita Sher-Gil Amrita Sher-Gil (30 January 1913 – 5 December 1941) ...

, a

Hungarian-Jewish The history of the Jews in Hungary dates back to at least the Kingdom of Hungary, with some records even predating the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 895 CE by over 600 years. Written sources prove that Jewish communities lived i ...

opera singer who came from an affluent bourgeois family. Her parents first met in 1912, while Marie Antoinette was visiting

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

. Her mother came to India as a companion of Princess Bamba Sutherland, the granddaughter of

Maharaja Ranjit Singh Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839) was the founder and first maharaja of the Sikh Empire, in the northwest Indian subcontinent, ruling from 1801 until his death in 1839. Born to Maha Singh, the leader of the Sukerchakia Misl ...

. Sher-Gil was the elder of two daughters; her younger sister was

Indira Sundaram Indira Sundaram (28 March 1914 - 1975) was the subject of List of paintings by Amrita Sher-Gil, several paintings completed by her sister, Amrita Sher-Gil, photographs by her father Umrao Singh Sher-Gil, and art works by her son Vivan Sundaram.Sun ...

(née Sher-Gil; born in March 1914), mother of the contemporary artist

Vivan Sundaram Vivan Sundaram (28 May 1943 – 29 March 2023) was an Indian contemporary artist. He worked in many different media, including painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, installation, and video art, and his work was politically conscious an ...

. The family were obliged to remain in Budapest until after the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

.Dalmia, pp. 1-16 She was the niece of Indologist

Ervin Baktay Ervin Baktay (1890–1963; born Ervin Gottesmann) was an author noted for popularizing Indian culture in Hungary. He guided her by critiquing her work and gave her an academic foundation to grow on. When she was a young girl she would paint the servants in her house, and get them to model for her. The memories of these models would eventually lead to her return to India. Her family faced financial problems in Hungary. In 1921, her family moved to

Summer Hill, Shimla Summer Hill is a part of Shimla, the state capital of Himachal Pradesh at a height of 2,123 meters. It is on a hill, 5 km west to the Shimla Ridge, and is part of the seven-hill cluster. History In the past, Summer Hill has offered reside ...

, India, and Sher-Gil soon began learning piano and violin. By age nine she, along with her younger sister Indira, was giving concerts and acting in plays at Shimla's Gaiety Theatre at

Mall Road, Shimla Mall Road is one of the main financial, commercial and business centres in Shimla, the capital city of Himachal Pradesh, India. Constructed during British colonial rule, the Mall road is located a level below The Ridge. The offices of municipa ...

.Amrita Shergill at sikh-heritage
. Sikh-heritage.co.uk (30 January 1913). Though she had already been painting since the age of five, she started studying painting formally at age eight. Sher-Gil received formal lessons in art from Major Whitmarsh, who was later replaced by Hal Bevan-Petman. In Shimla, Sher-Gil lived a relatively privileged lifestyle. As a child, she was expelled from her Catholic school

Convent of Jesus and Mary The Convent of Jesus and Mary ("CJM") is a network of Roman Catholic schools founded by the Congregation of the Religious of Jesus and Mary. The school network originating in east-central France in the 19th century has since its inception expan ...

for declaring herself an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

. In 1923, Marie came to know an Italian

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

, who was living in Shimla at the time. In 1924, when he returned to Italy, she too moved there, along with Amrita, and got her enrolled at Santa Annunziata, an art school in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

. Though Amrita did not stay at this school for long and returned to India in 1924, it was here that she was exposed to works of Italian masters.Amrita Shergill Biography at
. Iloveindia.com (6 December 1941). At sixteen, Sher-Gil sailed to Europe with her mother to train as a painter in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, first at the

Académie de la Grande Chaumière The Académie de la Grande Chaumière () is an art school in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France. History The school was founded in 1904 by the Catalan painter Claudio Castelucho on the rue de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, near the A ...

under Pierre Vaillent and

Lucien Simon Lucien Joseph Simon (1861 – 1945) was a French painter and teacher born in Paris. Early life and education Simon was born in Paris. After graduating from the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, he studied painting at the studio of Jules Didier, then from ...

(where she met

Boris Taslitzky Boris Taslitzky, sometimes Boris Tazlitsky (September 30, 1911 – December 9, 2005), was a French painter with left-wing sympathies, best known for his figurative depictions of some difficult moments in the history of the twentieth century. His ...

) and later at the

École des Beaux-Arts ; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centu ...

(1930–1934). She drew inspiration from European painters such as

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work introduced new modes of representation, influenced avant-garde artistic movements of the early 20th century a ...

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. He was also an influ ...

and

Amedeo Modigliani Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (; ; 12 July 1884 – 24 January 1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor of the École de Paris who worked mainly in France. He is known for portraits and nudes in a modern art, modern style characterized by a surre ...

, while working under the influence of her teacher Lucien Simon and through the company of artist friends and lovers like Taslitzky. While in Paris, she is said to have painted with a conviction and maturity rarely seen in a 16-year old. In 1931, Sher-Gil was briefly engaged to Yusuf Ali Khan, but rumours spread that she was also having an affair with her first cousin and later husband Viktor Egan. Her letters reveal same-sex affairs.

1932–1936: Early career, European and Western styles

Sher-Gil's early paintings display a significant influence of the

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

modes of painting, more specifically, the

Post-Impressionism Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction a ...

style. She practiced a lot in the Bohemian circles of Paris in the early 1930s. Her 1932

oil painting Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the Binder (material), binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or oil on coppe ...

, ''

'', came as a breakthrough for her; the work won her accolades, including a gold medal and election as an Associate of the Grand Salon in Paris in 1933. She was the youngest ever member,Works in Focus
,

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international Modern art, modern and contemporary art (created from or after 1900). It forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Live ...

, 2007. and the only Asian to have received this recognition. Her work during this time include a number of self-portraits, as well as life in Paris, nude studies, still life studies, and portraits of friends and fellow students. The

National Gallery of Modern Art The National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) is the premier art gallery under Ministry of Culture, Government of India. The main museum at Jaipur House in New Delhi was established on 29 March 1954 by the Government of India, with subsequent b ...

in New Delhi describes the self-portraits she made while in Paris as " apturingthe artist in her many moods – somber, pensive, and joyous – while revealing a narcissistic streak in her personality". Painting Sleep 1932

When she was in Paris, one of her professors said that judging by the richness of her colouring Sher-Gil was not in her element in the west, and that her artistic personality would find its true atmosphere in the east. In 1933, Sher-Gil "began to be haunted by an intense longing to return to India feeling in some strange way that there lay her destiny as a painter". She returned to India at the end of 1934.Laid bare – the free spirit of Indian art
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', 24 February 2007. In May 1935, Sher-Gil met the English journalist

Malcolm Muggeridge Thomas Malcolm Muggeridge (24 March 1903 – 14 November 1990) was a conservative British journalist and satirist. His father, H. T. Muggeridge, was a socialist politician and one of the early Labour Party Members of Parliament (for Romford, i ...

, then working as assistant editor and leader writer for ''The Calcutta Statesman''. Both Muggeridge and Sher-Gil stayed at the family home at

and a short intense affair took place during which she painted a casual portrait of her new lover, the painting now with the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi. By September 1935 Amrita saw Muggeridge off as he traveled back to England for new employment. She left herself for travel in 1936 at the behest of art collector and critic Karl Khandalavala, who encouraged her to pursue her passion for discovering her Indian roots. In India, she began a quest for the rediscovery of the traditions of Indian art which was to continue till her death. She was greatly impressed and influenced by the

Mughal Mughal or Moghul may refer to: Related to the Mughal Empire * Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries * Mughal dynasty * Mughal emperors * Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia * Mughal architecture * Mug ...

and Pahari schools of painting and the cave paintings at Ajanta. Amrita Sher-Gil with 3 paintings

1937–1941: Later career, influence of Indian art

Later in 1937, Sher-Gil toured

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

and produced her South Indian trilogy of paintings ''Bride's Toilet'', ''Brahmacharis'', and ''South Indian Villagers Going to Market'' following her visit to the

Ajanta Caves The Ajanta Caves are 30 rock-cut architecture, rock-cut Buddhist caves in India, Buddhist cave monuments dating from the second century Common Era, BCE to about 480 CE in Aurangabad district, Maharashtra, Aurangabad district of Maharashtra sta ...

, when she made a conscious attempt to return to classical Indian art. These paintings reveal her passionate sense of colour and empathy for her Indian subjects, who are often depicted in their poverty and despair.Amrita Shergill at
. Indiaprofile.com (6 December 1941). By now the transformation in her work was complete and she had found her 'artistic mission' which was, according to her, to express the life of Indian people through her canvas.
, The Tribune, 12 March 2000. While in Saraya, Sher-Gil wrote to a friend: "I can only paint in India. Europe belongs to

Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...

Braque Georges Braque ( ; ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century French painter, collagist, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his alliance with Fauvism from 1905, and the role he play ...

.... India belongs only to me." Her stay in India marks the beginning of a new phase in her artistic development, one that was distinct from the European phase of the interwar years when her work showed an engagement with the works of

Hungarian painters This is an incomplete list of Hungarian painters. For sculptors see List of Hungarian sculptors A * Béla Apáti Abkarovics - Hungarian painter and graphic artist (1888–1957) *Béla Nagy Abodi - Hungarian painter and graphic artist (1918� ...

, especially the

Nagybánya Baia Mare ( , ; ; ; ) is a city along the Săsar River, in northwestern Romania; it is the capital of Maramureș County. The city lies in the region of Maramureș, a subregion of Transylvania. It is situated about from Bucharest, from the bord ...

school of painting. Sher-Gil married her Hungarian first cousin, Viktor Egan when she was 25. He had helped Sher-Gil obtain abortions on at least two occasions prior to their marriage. She moved with him to India to stay at her paternal family's home in Saraya, Sardar nagar,

Chauri Chaura Chauri Chaura (''Pargana:'' Haveli, Tehsil: Gorakhpur) is a town near Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. The town is located at a distance of 16 km from Gorakhpur, on the State Highway between Gorakhpur and Deoria. The town railway station ...

Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh Gorakhpur is a city in the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, along the banks of the West Rapti River, Rapti river in the Purvanchal , Purvanchal region. It is situated 272 kilometres east of ...

. Thus began her second phase of painting, whose impact on Indian art rivals that of

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

and

Jamini Roy Jamini Roy (11 April 1887 – 24 April 1972) was an Indian painter. He was honoured by the Government of India the award of Padma Bhushan in 1954. He remains one of the most famous pupils of Abanindranath Tagore, another praised Indian art ...

of the Bengal school of art. The 'Calcutta Group' of artists, which transformed the Indian art scene, was to start only in 1943, and the ' Progressive Artist's Group', with

Francis Newton Souza Francisco Victor Newton de Souza (12 April 1924 – 28 March 2002), better known as F. N. Souza, was an Indian artist of modern Indian painting, and a founding member of the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group. His style exhibited both decadence ...

, Ara, Bakre, Gade,

M. F. Husain Maqbool Fida Husain (17 September 1915 – 9 June 2011) was an Indian painter and film director who painted Narrative painting, narrative paintings in a modified Cubism, Cubist style. He was one of the founding members of Bombay Progressiv ...

and S. H. Raza among its founders, lay further ahead in 1948.Amrita Sher-Gill at
. Mapsofindia.com. Sher-Gil's art was strongly influenced by the paintings of the two Tagores, Rabindranath and Abanindranath who were pioneers of the Bengal School of painting. Her portraits of women resemble works by Rabindranath while the use of '

chiaroscuro In art, chiaroscuro ( , ; ) is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to ach ...

' and bright colours reflect the influence of Abanindranath. During her stay at Saraya, Sher-Gil painted the ''Village Scene,'' ''In the Ladies' Enclosure,'' and ''Siesta,'' all of which portray the leisurely rhythms of life in rural India. ''Siesta'' and ''In the Ladies' Enclosure'' reflect her experimentation with the miniature school of painting while ''Village Scene'' reflects influences of the Pahari school of painting. Although acclaimed by art critics Karl Khandalavala in Bombay and Charles Fabri in Lahore as the greatest painter of the century, Sher-Gil's paintings found few buyers. She travelled across India with her paintings but the Nawab

Salar Jung The Salar Jung family was a noble Hyderabad state, Hyderabad family under the Nizams, who ruled from 1720 to 1948. They are credited with safeguarding rare artifact (archaeology), artifacts and collections, which are now at Salar Jung Museum. ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

returned them and the

Maharaja of Mysore The maharaja of Mysore was the king and principal ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore and briefly of Mysore State in the Indian Dominion roughly between the mid- to late-1300s and 1950. The maharaja's consort was called the maharani of Mysore. In ...

chose

Raja Ravi Varma Raja Ravi Varma () (29 April 1848 – 2 October 1906) was an Indian painter and artist. His works are one of the best examples of the fusion of European academic art with a purely Indian sensibility and iconography. Especially, he was notable f ...

's paintings over hers. Although from a family that was closely tied to the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

, Sher-Gil was a

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

sympathiser. She was attracted to the poor, distressed and the deprived and her paintings of Indian villagers and women are a meditative reflection of their condition. She was also attracted by Gandhi's philosophy and lifestyle.

Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a prin ...

was charmed by her beauty and talent and when he went to Gorakhpur in October 1940, he visited her at Saraya. Her paintings were at one stage even considered for use in the Congress propaganda for village reconstruction. Despite befriending Nehru, she never drew his portrait, supposedly because she thought he was "too good looking". Nehru attended her exhibition held in New Delhi in February 1937. Sher-Gil exchanged letters with Nehru for a time, but those letters were burned by her parents when she was away getting married in Budapest. In September 1941, Egan and Sher-Gil moved to

, then in

undivided India The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or direc ...

and a major cultural and artistic centre. She lived and painted at 23 Ganga Ram Mansions, The Mall, Lahore where her studio was on the top floor of the townhouse she inhabited. Sher-Gil was known for her many affairs with both men and women, and she also painted many of the latter. Her work ''Two Women'' is thought to be a painting of herself and her lover Marie Louise. Some of her later works include ''Tahitian'' (1937), ''Red Brick House'' (1938), ''Hill Scene'' (1938), and ''The Bride'' (1940) among others. Her last work was left unfinished just prior to her death in December 1941.

Illness and death

In 1941, at age 28, just days before the opening of her first major solo show in Lahore, Sher-Gil became seriously ill and slipped into a coma. She later died around midnight on 5 December 1941, leaving behind a large volume of work. The reason for her death has never been ascertained. A failed

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

and subsequent

peritonitis Peritonitis is inflammation of the localized or generalized peritoneum, the lining of the inner wall of the abdomen and covering of the abdominal organs. Symptoms may include severe pain, swelling of the abdomen, fever, or weight loss. One pa ...

have been suggested as possible causes for her death. Her mother accused her doctor husband Egan of having murdered her. The day after her death, Britain declared war on Hungary and Egan was interned as an

enemy alien In customary international law, an enemy alien is any alien native, citizen, denizen or subject of any foreign nation or government with which a domestic nation or government is in conflict and who is liable to be apprehended, restrained, secur ...

. Sher-Gil was cremated on 7 December 1941 in Lahore.

Artistic and cultural legacies

Sher-Gil's art has influenced generations of Indian artists from

Sayed Haider Raza ''Sayyid'' is an honorific title of Hasanid and Husaynid lineage, recognized as descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatima and Ali's sons Hasan and Husayn. The title may also refer to the descendants of the fami ...

Arpita Singh Arpita Singh (''née'' Dutta; born 22 June 1937) is an Indian artist. Known to be a figurative artist and a modernist, she made her canvases to have both a story line and a carnival of images arranged in a curiously subversive manner. Her artis ...

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 The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

has declared her works as National Art Treasures, and most of them are housed in the

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

. Some of her paintings also hang at the Lahore Museum. A postage stamp depicting her painting ''Hill Women'' was released in 1978 by

India Post The Department of Posts, d/b/a India Post, is an Indian Public Sector Undertakings in India, public sector postal system statutory body headquartered in New Delhi, India. It is an organisation under the Ministry of Communications (India), Minist ...

, and the Amrita Shergil Marg is a road in

Lutyens' Delhi Lutyens' Delhi is an area in New Delhi, India, named after the British architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, Edwin Lutyens (1869–1944), who was entrusted with the vast majority of the architectural design and buildings of the city that subsequently e ...

named after her. Sher-Gil was able to prove to western societies that Indians were able to make fine art. 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. In 2006, her painting ''Village Scene'' sold for 6.9 crores at an auction in

which was at the time the highest amount ever paid for a painting in India. The Indian cultural centre in Budapest is named the Amrita Sher-Gil Cultural Centre. Contemporary artists in India have recreated and reinterpreted her works. ''Amrita Sher-Gil'' (1969) is a documentary film about the artist, directed by

Bhagwan Das Garga Bhagwan Das Garga (14 November 1924 – 18 July 2011), also known as B. D. Garga, was an Indian documentary filmmaker and film historian. Life Garga grew up in Lahore and developed an interest in photography as a teenager. He published som ...

and produced by the

Films Division The Films Division of India (FDI), commonly referred as Films Division, was established in 1948 following the independence of India. It was the first state film production and distribution unit, under the Ministry of Information and Broadcastin ...

. It won the

National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film The National Film Award for Best Non-Feature Film is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the National Film Development Corporation of India. It is one of several awards presented for non-feature films and awarded with Swarna Ka ...

. Besides remaining an inspiration to many a contemporary Indian artists, in 1993, she also became the inspiration behind the Urdu play '' Tumhari Amrita''. UNESCO announced 2013, the 100th anniversary of Sher-Gil's birth, to be the international year of Amrita Sher-Gil. Sher-Gil's work is a key theme in the contemporary Indian novel ''Faking It'' by Amrita Chowdhury. Aurora Zogoiby, a character in

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie ( ; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British and American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern wor ...

's 1995 novel ''The Moor's Last Sigh'', was inspired by Sher-Gil.

Claire Kohda Claire Lyokho Kohda Hazelton (born 1990) is an English writer, violinist, and illustrator. She is known for her debut novel ''Woman, Eating'' (2022). Early life Born to a Japanese mother and an English father, Kohda is from the Thanet District o ...

refers repeatedly to Amrita Sher-Gil and to her painting the ''Three Girls'' in her 2022 novel ''Woman, Eating'', which features a British main character of mixed Malaysian and Japanese origin. Struggling with alienation and with living between worlds as the

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...

offspring of a vampire mother and human father, the protagonist, Lydia, identifies with the ''Three Girls'' and speculates that they were vampires: "I'm pretty sure that all of Sher-Gil's subjects were vampires and that maybe she was one, too..." Sher-Gil was sometimes known as India's

Frida Kahlo Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by Culture of Mexico, the country' ...

because of the "revolutionary" way she blended Western and traditional art forms. On 30 January 2016,

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

celebrated her 103rd birthday with a

Google Doodle Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running annual Bu ...

. In 2018, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' published a belated obituary for her. That year, at a Sotheby's auction in Mumbai, her painting '' The Little Girl in Blue'' was sold at auction for a record-breaking 18.69 crores. It is a portrait of her cousin Babit, a resident of Shimla and was painted in 1934, when the subject was eight years old. In 2021, Sher-Gil's painting ''Portrait of Denyse'' was put up for auction by

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

with an estimated value to be between $1.8-2.8 million. The 1932 portrait features Denyse Proutaux, a Parisian art critic, whom Sher-Gil met in 1931. Proutaux was featured in other Sher-Gil paintings, including ''Young Girls'' and ''Denise Proutaux'', which were both included in the exhibition "Amrita Shergil: The Passionate Quest" at the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi. On 18 September 2023, Sher-Gil's 1937 painting '' The Story Teller'' fetched $7.4 million (Rs 61.8 crore) at a recent auction, setting a record for the highest price achieved by an Indian artist. SaffronArt, the auction house, organised the sale on Saturday night. This came just 10 days after modernist Syed Haider Raza's painting, ''Gestation'', fetched ₹ 51.7 crore at Pundole auction house. In a page dedicated to the artwork, SaffronArt said the legendary artist sought to explore the realm of domestic life in ''The Story Teller''.

Gallery

File:Amrita Sher-Gil Self-portrait.jpg, ''

Self-portrait Self-portraits are Portrait painting, portraits artists make of themselves. Although self-portraits have been made since the earliest times, the practice of self-portraiture only gaining momentum in the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century ...

'', 1930 File:Amrita Sher-Gil Self-portrait, untitled.jpg, ''Self-portrait'' (untitled), 1931 File:Amrita Sger-Gil Klarra Szepessy.jpg, ''Klára Szepessy'', 1932 File:Amrita Sher-Gil Hungarian-gypsy-girl.jpg, ''Hungarian Gypsy Girl'', 1932 File:Amrita Sher-Gil Group of Three Girls.jpg, '' Group of Three Girls'', 1935 File:Sumair 1936.png, ''Summer,'' 1936 File:Amrita Sger-Gil Bride's Toilet.jpg, '' Bride's Toilet'', 1937 File:Village-scene-1938.jpg, ''Village Scene'', 1938

Explanatory notes

References

Bibliography

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sher-Gil, Amrita 1913 births 1941 deaths Punjabi Sikhs 20th-century Hungarian painters 20th-century Indian painters 20th-century Indian women artists Alumni of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière Artists from Lahore Bisexual women artists Bisexual painters Hungarian emigrants to India 20th-century Hungarian women painters Indian Jews Indian people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Indian portrait painters Indian women painters Jewish women painters Jewish painters Bisexual Jews Hungarian LGBTQ painters Hungarian bisexual women Indian LGBTQ painters Indian bisexual women Painters from Himachal Pradesh People from Shimla Women artists from Himachal Pradesh 20th-century Indian LGBTQ people 20th-century Hungarian LGBTQ people Majithia family People from Punjab Province (British India) Jewish LGBTQ women