Drawing Room: Varad Bang reflects upon Amrita Sher-gil’s portrait

Playing with lighting and layering, a young Amrita Sher-Gil depicted herself as bold, mischievous, and enigmatic - all at once

“Europe belongs to Picasso, Matisse, Braque, and many others. India belongs only to me.” Artist Amrita Sher-Gil’s statement dates back to 1938, when she was just 25 years old. She’d spent her childhood in Hungary, and had been accepted into the prestigious École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris at age 16.

Sher-Gil painted this when she was just 19.

Sher-Gil wen to an art school in Paris

Much of what Sher-Gil painted dealt with the India she saw and knew.