In PICS: 8 Paintings That Celebrate Abstractionist Bimal Das Gupta, 30 Years After His Death

Artist Bimal Das Gupta (1917-1995) was renowned for innovative approach to abstraction. His work, spanning a few decades, reflects a deep engagement with both the spiritual and the natural worlds.

Bimal Das Gupta (1917-1995) emerged as a leading figure in Indian modern art during the latter half of the 20th century, and was the first artist in India to explore Neo-Tantric abstraction.

Bimal Das Gupta's innovative approach to painting pushed the boundaries of traditional methods, challenging the academic realism taught in art institutions and opening new avenues for artistic expression | Photo: Dhoomimal Gallery & Gallery Silver Scapes

Germination remained an important theme in the artist’s career, including earlier canvases that dealt with the philosophy of Tantra | Photo: Dhoomimal Gallery & Gallery Silver Scapes

By the 1990s, during the final decade of Bimal Das Gupta’s life, the artist had finely honed the recurring themes in his work, skillfully blending them together, as demonstrated in this untitled piece from 1993. (Right) This untitled work from 1992, created using gouache, dry pastel, and charcoal, delves into the ancient essence of Tantra, a concept that, while solidifying into a coherent philosophy in the sixth century, predates that as an explanation for the miracle of life’s creation | Photo: Dhoomimal Gallery & Gallery Silver Scapes

This 1994 work, rendered in watercolour, charcoal, and gouache embodies Bimal Das Gupta’s abstraction of nature, often viewed as the foundation of abstraction itself. (Right) This untitled piece from 1991, using watercolour, gouache, pastel, and charcoal on board, reflects Bimal Das Gupta’s late-career focus on the theme of germination and the ascent of life. At its core, the central mass symbolises more than just the emergence of new life, represented by the bird-like form hovering above | Photo: Dhoomimal Gallery & Gallery Silver Scapes

Bimal Das Gupta spoke the language of abstraction, an art he pioneered in India at a time the later masters of Indian modernism were experimenting with different techniques and genres to arrive at their individuated abstractionist vocabulary | Photo: Dhoomimal Gallery & Gallery Silver Scapes