The oil painting Young Girls brought Amrita Sher-Gil international recognition in 1932, earning her a gold medal and election as an Associate of the Grand Salon in Paris. This achievement distinguished her as the youngest member and only Asian artist to receive such a high accolade during that period of her career in the early twentieth century.
Early Development and Training
Born in 1913 in Budapest, Amrita Sher-Gil was the daughter of Umrao Singh Sher-Gil Majithia, an Indian aristocrat and scholar, and Marie Antoinette Gottesman, a Hungarian opera singer. Her formative years were split between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and India, where her family moved to Summer Hill, Shimla, in 1921. She began formal art lessons at eight, following the guidance of her uncle, Indologist Ervin Baktay. Her education included time at art schools in Florence and, crucially, Paris, where she studied at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and the École des Beaux-Arts between 1930 and 1934.
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During her residence in Paris, Sher-Gil aligned herself with the Bohemian circles of the early 1930s. Her early work was heavily influenced by Post-Impressionism and the techniques of European masters, including Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, and Amedeo Modigliani. While in France, she produced nude studies, still lifes, and a series of self-portraits that the National Gallery of Modern Art describes as capturing a range of moods and personalities. Despite her successes in the Western art scene, she began to feel that her true destiny as a painter lay in India.
Return to India and Stylistic Shift
Sher-Gil returned to India in 1934, initiating a profound shift in her artistic approach. Encouraged by critic Karl Khandalavala, she began exploring Indian traditions, finding inspiration in Mughal and Pahari painting styles as well as the cave paintings at Ajanta. Her 1937 tour of South India resulted in the production of her significant trilogy: Bride’s Toilet, Brahmacharis, and South Indian Villagers Going to Market. These works emphasized her empathy for her subjects, frequently highlighting the poverty and despair observed in daily life.
Final Years
Her career was cut short by her premature death in Lahore in 1941 at the age of 28. Throughout her brief professional life, she worked across Hungary, France, and India. While her work received limited acknowledgement during her lifetime, she is now regarded as a pivotal figure in modern Indian art. Her paintings, including notable pieces such as Three Girls and Self-Portrait as Tahitian, are currently considered among the most valuable works by Indian women painters.
Fast facts
- Born: 1913, Budapest
- Died: 1941, Lahore
- Nationality: British Raj
- Education: Académie de la Grande Chaumière; Beaux-Arts de Paris
- Movement: Modernism
- Notable Works: Three Girls; Self-Portrait as Tahitian
- Primary Occupations: Painter
Questions readers ask
What artistic styles influenced her work?
Her style evolved from European Post-Impressionism to a focus on Indian traditions, specifically Mughal and Pahari schools and the Ajanta cave paintings.
Where did she complete her formal art training?
She was trained at Santa Annunziata in Florence, the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
Achievements
- Notable work: Self-Portrait as Tahitian
- Notable work: Three Girls
- Movement: modernism
