Sunil Das

One of India’s most iconic postmodernist painters, Sunil Das (1939-2015) is known for works that border on the absurd and are marked by a certain macabre, and brooding quality. He is especially known for his drawings of bulls and horses. "I must have done 7000 horses between 1950 to 60," quoted Das.  Just like Pablo Picasso, it was his fascination with bullfights that arose during his visit to Spain.

Born in Kolkata, Das finished Diploma in Painting from the Government College of Art and Craft, Kolkata. Later, he won a scholarship by the French government to study at the Ecole National des Beaux-Arts in Paris. While in Paris for three years, he studied various genres of art such as graphic art and painting under the direction of the world’s best-known masters.

Das is the only Indian artist to have won the country’s prestigious national award, Shiromani Kala Purakskar while being an undergraduate student. Interesting to note, he utilises the palms of his hands and fingers to daub and smear.

Das works with muted and understated colours. One gets to see a lot of soft brown, white and mauve in the background of his paintings. This creates a rather dramatic contrast with the main subjects, which are often portrayed in black and white. This contrast accentuates the distinct sculpture-like quality of the painting. For Sunil Das, painting is essentially about interpreting a pre-existing reality in the laboratory of one’s mind and then recreating it on the canvas in a new avatar.

Das has exhibited widely in India and abroad. His works are a part of the reputed collections of renowned museums such as the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, the Glenbarra Art Museum, Japan, the Ludwig Museum, Germany, among others.