My Mother

Abanindranath Tagore founded a new school of painting popularly known as Bengal School which challenged the British academic system of art education. He was inspired by the Mughal miniature tradition and Japanese wash technique in moulding his new art practice. His painting ‘My Mother’, even though very small in scale, is a memorable image. Abanindranath had said that after his Mother’s death, he realized that there was neither a photograph, nor a portrait of her. Then, one day, her face suddenly came vividly to him in a vision and he painted her image in profile like a miniature painting and set it within an ornamental border. The elegance and poetry in Abanindranath’s line leaves a certain resonance.