Amrita Sher-Gil


The Insider-Outsider

“I began to be haunted by an intense longing to return to India, feeling in some strange, inexplicable way that there lay my destiny as a painter.”

In her short but intense career, Amrita Sher-Gil painted the lives of people with a depth and empathy that is strongly palpable, making her an unforgettable avant-garde painter of the 20th century.

Of mixed heritage, Sikh and Jewish-Hungarian, she studied painting at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, but found her artistic personality in India. This duality in her sense of belonging marked her extremely influential career, infusing in her work a modernity not seen in India at the time. In her own words, “Indian art committed the mistake of feeding almost exclusively on the tradition of mythology and romance.”

Behind her hauntingly beautiful and forceful portraits was a rare woman who defiantly embraced her choices, her dual sexual orientation, her unique amalgamation of East and West. A woman far ahead of her time, Amrita Sher-Gil’s genius lay in her ability to bring together inspiration from European modernists, and the everyday life in India that she chose to immerse herself in.

It is speculated that she died from a failed abortion, conducted by her husband (also her first cousin). The circumstances under which this happened are obscure, and her mother accused him of murder. She was only 28years old.

In a condolence letter to her parents, Jawaharlal Nehru (an admirer and rumoured lover) wrote “I felt that she was precious to India, and looked forward to the ripening of her genius.”

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