Artist on Spotlight

In this edition of our newsletter, we shine a spotlight on one of modern India's most emotionally potent and socially conscious painters: Dhiraj Choudhury (1936–2018). A prolific artist and educator, Choudhury's work cannot be confined to a single genre or theme. It lives between extremes—protest and poetry, violence and compassion, rage and hope. What makes his work persistently relevant is the moral urgency it carries, even decades after its creation. Choudhury once described himself as an "aggressive romantic, " and this paradox captures the essence of his art. His paintings are not content with surface beauty or fleeting impressions. They plunge into the depths of collective trauma and personal sorrow, emerging with figures that feel both timeless and timely. His brushwork is deliberate, and his subjects are often charged with emotion, resistance, and truth. His commitment to social realism, however, never overshadowed his poetic eye—he balanced his intensity with a painterly lyricism.