Artistic parallels in the paintings of Rabindranath Tagore and Sailoz Mookherjea

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) and Sailoz Mookherjea (1906-1960) are two artists who had a significant influence on the development of Indian modernism, a phenomenon that radically changed the visual language of India. Tagore, a poet and writer, was not a professional painter, however, combining the visual traditions of his native country with the techniques of Western countries, he created works of art that showed a new painting style that did not rely on the visual canons of the past. Mookherjea, one of the first modernist artists in India, was inspired by the schools of Basohli and Kangra, as well as the work of the French masters of the 20th century. Both created an interest in modern Western art, traveled to Europe, and incorporated techniques from other countries into their works. Regardless of the fame of these artists in India and abroad, there is an unexplored connection between their paintings. This article examines the parallels in the visual heritage of the two artists and raises questions about the influence of Tagore’s painting experiments on the work of Mookherjea.