The international exhibition Inheritances of Light, Geographies of Loss, curated by Myna Mukherjee of Engendered, brings the Dutch influence on Indian art and culture into focus, at Travancore Palace, New Delhi
Indian painting, prior to its exposure to global influences via trade, believed in universal light, or what the Italians called ‘sfumato’ a soft, common light. It was with the advent of the term ‘chiaroscuro’ that light and dark shades in painting, came into existence. Dutch artists, especially Rembrandt, and late Renaissance like Italian artist Caravaggio and Vermeer, had a heady influence on Indian painters.
Image 1: Arpana Caur | Day and Night
Image 2:M. Sovan Kumar | Rembrandt reflect |Acrylic on canvas
Image 3: Manisha Gera Baswani | BASANT BAHAAR | Chikankari on cloth
Early Modern Indian painters like Raja Ravi Varma began to use light and dark shades creating an air of drama in his paintings, since he was highly influenced by Dutch and Italian painters and it filtered down to contemporary art naturally.
‘Inheritance of Light, Geographies of Loss’, a dynamic multidisciplinary showcase, curated by Myna Mukherjee brings out this influence and mulls over the ‘inheritance’ of light and shade in Indian Modern and Contemporary painting over the years. She has chosen to interpret light through the artworks in multiple ways that are both literal as well as metaphoric.
Image 1: Adil Khan | Untitled | Acrylic on paper
Image 2: Santosh Jain | Covid chronicles I,II | Set of two, Mix Media
Image 3: Phillip “Swede” Hickok Alchemy Dreams (Caramel small) Glass
The exhibition is being showcased for a special cultural delegation from the Netherlands which includes directors of two of Europe’s most prestigious museums, Mauritshuis Museum home to the best of Dutch paintings of Rembrandt and Vermeer and the Drents Museum known for its major international exhibitions in the fields of archaeology, art and history. The Ambassador for International Cultural Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ambassador of Netherlands to India.
“This exhibition proposes that light is a cultural inheritance – a sensibility that travels across continents and centuries, shaping how artists imagine the self, society, and the sacred. Beginning with Rembrandt and Vermeer, whose manipulation of light transformed European painting, the exhibition traces their long afterlives in India,” says Mukherjee. “Raja Ravi Varma, absorbed European realism into a new vernacular of myth and modernity; and later through contemporary Indian artists who use light not just as illumination, but as memory, rupture, witness, and resistance,” she adds.
Image 1: Pandit Khairnar | Untitled | Oil on Canvas
Image 2: Alex Davis | Valley of Flowers, | 304-grade stainless steel. Multiple pigments
Image 3:Manisha Gera Baswani | Circulating Hope | Embroidered with silk thread on cotton cloth | 21″ x 15.5”
Artists featured in this include, Adarsh Sinha, Arpana Caur, Anupam Sud,Adil Khan, Ajaysingh Bhadoriya, Alex Davis, Amit Srivastava, Anandita Bhattacharya, Asha Thadani, Fearless Collective, Glass Sutra (Swede + Reshmi), Harshit Agrawal, Indervir Arya, Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya, Maksud Ali Mondal, Manisha Gera Baswani, Natasha Singh, Noureen Rashid, Pandit Khairnar, Paul Beumer, Piyali Sadhukhan, Puneet Kaushik, Puneet Verma, Rabiul Khan, Raghava KK, Rahul Arya, Sanjay Bhattacharya, Santosh Jain, Satyakam Saha, Seema Kohli, Shahid Khan, Shiblee Muneer, Shilo Shiv Suleman, Sonika Agarwal, Sovan Kumar, and Supriyo Manna.
Image 1:Santosh Jain | Covid chronicles I,II | Set of two | Mix Media | 18″ x 24″(With Frame)Each
Image 2: “WE”_Echoes Beneath the Skin | Glass | Dimension 6.5ft x 5ft Edition 1.1
“This exhibition demonstrates how culture travels through materials, ideas, and people. Inheritance of Light shows that artistic exchange between India and the Netherlands is not only historical, but ongoing. It is continually reinterpreted through contemporary practice, collaboration, and shared responsibility,” says Dewi van de Weerd, Ambassador for International Culture Cooperation.
Light becomes the connective tissue between worlds: a bridge across colonial histories, spiritual vocabularies, sentimentalities, and the contemporary fragility of seeing. Mukherjee adds, “The exhibition pivots from colonial encounter to Indian modernity and also introduces contemporary Indian artists who inherit this lineage, not as tradition but as haunting – a set of unresolved aesthetic and emotional inheritances.”
Image 1:Paul Beume | What vague queen, standing by her ponds, holds on to the memory of my broken life?’ | Handloom woven cotton | 59” x 59”
Image 2: Raghava KK | Into The Metaverse I | Oil on canvas with mineral paints | Oil on canvas with mineral paints | 72” x 48”
The opening will feature a special panel ‘Light Between Empires: Reimagining Dutch–Indian Artistic Dialogues Today’ exploring legacy and antiquity in the sociological here and now. How do contemporary artworks illuminate, complicate and re-appropriate heritage? And what should interpretation look like in the 21st century as museums narrate cross-cultural histories ethically and responsibly as they discuss historical encounters and trace a lineage of artistic exchange across centuries.
The panel will bring together museum directors, curators, cultural ambassadors and artists to examine how Dutch and Indian painting traditions have long mirrored, borrowed from, and reinterpreted one another. From Rembrandt’s Mughal miniatures, Dutch Bengals, Mughal artists who studied Rembrandt’s etchings and to contemporary Indian artists and fellows engaging with Dutch sensibilities of light, realism, and atmosphere all the way to contemporary responses today by Indian and Dutch artists the panel will also look ahead, exploring models for future Indo-Dutch institutional collaborations, residencies, and shared exhibitions.
Image 1: Adil Khan | Untitled | Acrylic on Canvas | 60” x 60”
Image 2: Sanjay Bhattacharya | Untitled | 60″ x 60″ | Oil on Canvas
Amongst other programming, JJ Valaya will present a Live Fashion Presentation on Mughal Couture, textiles and craftsmanship. JJ Valaya, is a founder member of the Board of Governors of the FDCI (Fashion & Design Council of India) and the first official brand ambassador for Swarovski, globally. “Light has always been a carrier of memory revealing not just form, but history, emotion, and cultural exchange. In this presentation, couture becomes a lens through which craftsmanship, empire, and inheritance are examined, reminding us that the hand-made is both an archive and an act of continuity,” says Valaya who displayed a stunning collection at a brief display where models walked the ramp at the area outside the exhibition.
“Inheritance of Light understands illumination not as spectacle, but as a form of ethical attention. It is shaped by material exchange, shared histories, and the quiet ways cultures learn to see one another,” Concludes Mukherjee.
Image 1: Natasha Singh | Nadi Ida & Pingala (Edition – 4/5) | Etching, Plexiglass | 48″ x 16″ (each)
Image 2: Natasha Singh | Nadi Asana(Set of !6) | Gidee Fine Art Print | 15″ x 11″ (Each)
Image 3: Reshmi Dey | Molten Tapestry | Hand Rolled Glass | Dimension 6.6ft x 4ft Edition 1.1
Engendered in association with the Embassy of Netherlands, present Inheritances of Light, Geographies of Loss
Dates: Mon-Wed, Jan 12-14, 2026
Open to public: Jan 13-14, 10am-6pm
Venue: Travancore Palace, New Delhi
Cover Image: Adarsh Sinha | Light and Spice(The Hearth of the Home) | Oil on Canvas
Georgina is an independent critic-curator with 18 years of experience in the field of Indian art and culture. She blurs the lines of documentation, theory and praxis by involving herself in visual art projects. Besides writing on immersive art for STIRworld, she is a regular contributor for The Hindu, MASH Mag and Architectural Digest.
