Bikash Bhattacharjee (1940-2006)

The National Gallery of Modern Art, Footprints of a Tryst, Mumbai, June 1998

Please note the revised detailed cataloguing for this painting. There is hairline craquelure in the dark paint in the upper right corner, consistent with thickly applied paint. This work is in good condition, as viewed.
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Bikash Bhattacharjee's work was particularly steeped in the culture and imagery of Calcutta; this painting depicts ritual purification in the river Ganges, a central element of the life and rhythms of the city. The partial figure on the upper left holds a bag of flowers which will be immersed in the holy waters as an offering while the sari clad figure depicted in the foreground with water running off her head and shoulders, has just emerged from a ritual dip meant to cleanse and purify both body and soul.