National Gallery of Modern Art-Parikraman

Nandalal Bose

A Sketch from Album No. 74 8909 Nandalal Bose Watercolour on postcard

Nandalal explored a wide range of traditions to arrive at his unique visual language and has left behind a large corpus of works in a wide variety of styles, expressions and techniques. He studied the art practices and traditions not only of India but also those of other nations. His intent being to understand and assimilate the various artistic elements involved for excelling in his domain and which also enriched his own visual vocabulary. National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi acquired the largest collection of 6744 artworks of Nandalal Bose from his family some of which were exhibited in the Centenary celebratory exhibition organised by the museum in the year 1983. A major portion of the museum's collection includes monochromatic pencil sketches, pen and ink drawings on postcard and paper, watercolour paintings and sketches apart from the more detailed and elaborate tempera and wash paintings, Haripura posters and prints from the artist's extensive oeuvre.