Bikash Bhattacharjee

Bikash Bhattacharjee was one of the most prominent and influential painters of modern India. He was known for his realistic and surrealistic paintings that captured the essence of the city and the people of Kolkata. He was also a skilled portraitist who painted eminent personalities like Rabindranath Tagore, Satyajit Ray, Indira Gandhi and Samaresh Basu. He was inspired by his childhood experiences of poverty, struggle and violence that shaped his artistic vision and social consciousness. He used various mediums like oils, acrylics, water-colours, conté and collage to create his distinctive style of painting. He was also a teacher who taught at the Indian College of Art and Draftsmanship and the Government College of Art & Craft in Kolkata. He received many awards and honors for his artistic achievements, including the Padma Shri in 1988, the National Award in 1971 and 1972, and the Lalit Kala Akademi Fellowship in 2003. He suffered a paralytic stroke in 2000 that left him unable to paint. He died in 2006 after a prolonged illness. His paintings are widely exhibited and collected in India and abroad. He is regarded as one of the leading surrealist painters of India and a key figure in modern Indian art.