View from the Terrace in Mahim

View from the Terrace in Mahim, along with Fishing Boat at Low Tide (1930), are two of the few landscapes in this collection that belong to personal geography of the artist. Trindade and his family moved to Mahim – at the time a picturesque suburb of Bombay – in 1907, making it its permanent residence with the construction of Casa Bianca in 1933, which belongs to the family till today. The similarities between the Mahim beach near the fort and the river front in Panjim, Goa are staggering. The Portuguese legacy in the architectural and atmosphere of Mahim were visible and lured the Trindade’s and other Goan families to relocate.
This location highly influenced his work and was depicted by the artist several times. Twenty years had passed between his relocation and this scene. In these two decades Mahim was afflicted by continuous urbanisation and its earlier connection between land and water – reminiscent of Trindade’s birthplace, Goa – disappeared. This view of Mahim records that change with small details such as a water fountain, railing, artificial lights. Although it carries a peaceful mood, its colour scheme accentuates a dry atmosphere, that must have been an enormous contrast with the lavish greenery provided by coconut and mango trees of earlier days.
References: Shihandi, Marcella, et al, António Xavier Trindade: An Indian Painter from Portuguese Goa (exhibition catalogue), Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, 1996; Gracias, Fátima, Faces of Colonial India: The Work of Goan Artist António Xavier Trindade (1870-1935), Panjim, Goa, Fundação Oriente, 2014.