About the exhibition:

The exhibition presents private photographs of Amrita, most of them taken by her father, Umrao Singh Sher-Gil, as well as around fifty paintings and drawings by the artist. Her father was one of the pioneers of Indian photography and left behind some 3,000 prints, including hundreds of family portraits and eighty self-portraits. The photographs of Amrita, taken by her father as well as by other photographers, are included in the exhibition and are very much worth seeing.

Amrita Sher-Gil is often regarded as one of India’s most important modern artists. It is precisely her position between different worlds that makes her work so compelling: she was trained in Europe, but increasingly turned her attention to Indian subjects, people and colors. What stayed with us most was the combination of intimacy and strength: the photographs bring Amrita close as a person, while the paintings show how convincingly she developed her own visual language.

The Drents Museum allows Amrita Sher-Gil’s work to fully come into its own. She lived for only 28 years (1913-1941) yet left behind an impressive and influential body of work in which modern European painting merges with Indian colors, themes and stories. We especially liked her Indian work. The exhibition is absolutely worth visiting. It is remarkable that the Drents Museum, through this unique collection, introduces us to the work of such an exceptional artist.

More information about the Drents Museum and the Amrita Sher-Gil exhibition can be found on the museum’s website (please click).