Sunil Das

One of India’s most prominent post-modernist and was an Indian Expressionist painter born in 1939. He has been to the Government College of Art and Craft in Calcutta and later on, to study at Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

He was known for painting bulls and horses and every once, he painted human beings too. His inspiration to draw bulls came from his observations during a trip to Spain. And the horses were from the Calcutta’s racecourse. He spent a significant time sketching them. His paintings became the symbol of strength and youthfulness and gave a sense of liberation. He rarely used loud colours, instead used soft brown, mauve, and white in the background to bring out the drama of life. His work is high on minimalism.

Das has the distinction of being the only Indian artist to have won a National Award the Shiromani Kala Puraskara while still being an undergraduate at the Government College of Art and Craft, Kolkata. Besides having been featured in several exhibitions, his works are also a part of the collections of renowned museums such as the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, the Glenbarra Art Museum, Japan, and the Ludwig Museum, Germany. In 2014, he was facilitated with the Padma Shri.