8 Powerful Emotions Painted by Raja Ravi Varma

Experience the full emotional spectrum with India's master of mood

By Google Arts & Culture

Shakuntala And Her Companion (1880) by Raja Ravi VarmaOriginal Source: Collection of Travancore Royal Family, Kaudiar Palace, Thiruvananthapuram

Famed for the vibrancy of his mythological prints and the regal power of his austere portraits, Raja Ravi Varma was also no stranger to the earthly stuff of human feeling.

Here, for example, in this 1880 painting, Ravi Varma shows the purity, honest, and passion of Shakuntala, who was often lost in a reverie of love for her absent husband, Dushyanta. Scroll on for more examples of Ravi Varma's emotional spectrum...

Disappointed (1848/1906) by Raja Ravi VarmaSalar Jung Museum

Disappointed (1848)

Keechaka and Sairandhri (1891) by Raja Ravi VarmaOriginal Source: Maharaja Fatehsingh Museum, Vadodara

Keechaka and Sairandhri (1890)

Damayanti Vanvas (1890) by Ravi Varma PressOriginal Source: From the Sandeep & Gitanjali Maini Foundation

Damyanti Vanvas (1890)

Madri (1910s) by Raja Ravi Varma and Ravi Varma Press, Karla LonavalaThe Ganesh Shivaswamy Foundation

Madri (19th Century)

Woman Holding a Fruit (Late 19th century) by Raja Ravi VarmaNational Gallery of Modern Art

Woman Holding a Fruit (19th Century)

Vishwamitra Tapobangh (Circa 1910) by Ravi Varma Press Karla Lonavala and Raja Ravi VarmaThe Ganesh Shivaswamy Foundation

Vishwamitra Tapobangh (c.1910)

Damayanti (1895) by Raja Ravi Varma and Ravi Varma Fine Art Lithographic Press, BombayThe Ganesh Shivaswamy Foundation

Damyanti (c.1895)

Credits: All media

The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.

National Gallery of Modern Art

Raja Ravi Varma Heritage Foundation

Salar Jung Museum

The Ganesh Shivaswamy Foundation

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