Indian Oil Paintings

India is not one subject and this collection does not pretend otherwise. A fort rising out of the Thar desert, hands grinding spices in a courtyard, a bridge grown from living roots in Meghalaya, a woman at her mirror in the long tradition of shringar painting. What holds them together is attention to detail rather than a single view of the country.

What is in this collection

Around a hundred and eighty paintings. Architecture covers the forts and palaces, Jaisalmer among them, and the stepwells and temple courtyards that go with them. Daily life is the largest group: markets, spice grinding, a jhoola swing in a courtyard, work and rest in villages and cities. Landscape reaches from the Meghalaya root bridges to river valleys and desert light. And a classical group draws on Indian painting traditions, with figures such as Hamsa Damayanti treated in oils.

The palette runs warm and saturated, because Indian light is. These are made to hold that intensity on a wall rather than tone it down.

How each painting is made

Nothing here is printed. Each canvas is painted in oils after you order it, by an artist working from the reference on the page, which is why the lead time runs in weeks and no two are identical.

You set the dimensions rather than choosing from a list. Three finishes are available: Simple for a clean surface, Texture for visible brushwork, and Museum for the heaviest impasto.

Choosing one for a room

These paintings carry strong colour, so they work best where the wall around them is quiet. A single large canvas in a hallway or above a dining table does more than several small ones competing with each other. Architecture and desert scenes suit an upright format in a narrow space; market and courtyard scenes want width and a viewer who can stand back.

Restaurants and tea rooms tend toward the market subjects, which carry noise and warmth. For a bedroom or a quiet corner, the river and courtyard scenes hold better.

Something from your own India

If you have a photograph, a family house, a street, a journey, it can be painted the same way. Send it and an artist will look at it first. Shipping is free worldwide.