Amrita Sher-Gil as a Link Between Europe & India

Born to a Sikh father and a Hungarian-Jewish mother, educated in Paris, and rooted in India, Amrita Sher-Gil's life was a map of entangled worlds. Sher-Gil has been called many things: a feminist before her time, a cosmopolitan who moved between Paris and Panjab, the artist who made brown bodies visible with dignity and depth. A new exhibition A Hungarian-Indian Family of Artists: Master and Disciple at New Delhi’s National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), on view till 30 Apr, casts her in another light—as a link between Europe and India; between a nation’s cultural memory and a quieter story of shared histories. Through 137 archival photographs and eight original paintings, the exhibition, organised in collaboration with the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts in Budapest, reveals the deep cultural dialogue between Hungary and India. The exhibition highlights the creative influences of Amrita’s father, Umrao Singh Sher-Gil, whose painterly photographs form the heart of the collection, and her uncle Ervin Baktay, whose intellectual mentorship shaped her vision. Spanning Lahore, Budapest, Dunaharaszti, and Paris from 1889-1954, these rare images offer a deeply personal window into the world that nurtured one of India’s most iconic modern artists. The photographs of Umrao —a philosopher, scholar, and deeply introspective father—captured not just moments, but moods. Quiet, intense, and alive with spiritual energy. 'He was a spiritual artist,' said a guide at NGMA. 'Because whatever he wanted to write about—what he was reading, what he saw in life, what was there, what wasn’t there—he was a spiritual mentor. He wanted to tell himself how life changed.' The domesticity in these photographs—Amrita and her sister Indira in costume, or caught mid-thought—shows a family in reflection, and quiet emotions behind daily life. Baktay, Amrita’s maternal uncle, was another central figure in her life. A Hungarian polymath and Indologist, Baktay’s immersion in Indian spirituality left a profound mark on Sher-Gil (earlier coverage).