Indian artist Arpita Singh, known for her richly layered paintings probing themes of womanhood, mythology, and political violence, has passed away. She was 89 years old.

Born in 1937 in Baranagar, West Bengal, Singh moved to New Delhi with her family in 1946. After earning a fine arts degree from Delhi Polytechnic in 1959, she worked as an artistic consultant at the Weaver’s Service Centre, a government institution with locations in both New Delhi and Kolkata, which required her to visit various museums. Through this role, Singh encountered pattachitra (cloth-based scroll painting) and kantha (hand-embroidery and quilting)—South Asian crafts that, along with European modernism, would later inform her own practice. 

Singh emerged in the 1960s as a leading figure in the Indian modernist movement and became a founding member of The Unknown, a short-lived artist group based in New Delhi. Drawing on her engagement with Indian textile traditions, her early pieces from the 1970s explored abstract, repetitive mark-making and textures through black-and-white or monochromatic watercolors on paper. From the 1980s onward, she embraced a more figurative and narrative approach, returning to her distinctive visual language rooted in Bengali folk art and Indian miniature painting. Her tableaux became more saturated with color—particularly with pinks and blues—often depicting ordinary women in dreamlike domestic settings, as seen in Munna Apa’s Garden (1989) or The Eternal Repose (1997). While these intricate canvases reflected on motherhood, aging, and female sensuality, they also addressed broader historical traumas, such as the lingering scars of the 1947 Partition and gendered violence in India. Works such as Amina Kidwai with Dead Husband (1992) and My Lollipop City: Gemini Rising (2005) further exemplify her exploration of women’s inner worlds, and the relationship between personal and collective histories.

Deepak Talwar, founder of Talwar Gallery, paid tribute to Singh in a statement, stating “She leaves behind not just a legacy of art created over seven decades, placing her among the most significant of painters ever from India, but also the void of an extremely perceptive, astute humanist. She was resolute and a formidable force in a five-foot frame, yet yielded influence far beyond, including as a mentor and inspiration for generations of artists in India that followed. . . . [I am] indebted to Arpita for the constancy of her wisdom, generosity and friendship for three decades. I am grateful and honored to have Arpita in my life, where she will always remain ever-present and live on through her work.”

Throughout her decades-long career, Singh received various accolades, including the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian award (2011) and a fellowship from the Lalit Kala Akademi (2014). Her work has been featured in various exhibitions across India and abroad, including the Gwangju Biennale (2021) and Kochi-Muziris Biennale (2022). In 2019, New Delhi’s Kiran Nadar Museum of Art organized a major retrospective, titled “Submergence: In the Midst of Here and There,” and last year, London’s Serpentine Galleries presented the artist’s first institutional solo show outside India, titled “Remembering.” Her recently opened solo exhibition “Unfolding” is currently on view at New York’s Talwar Gallery through February 27, 2027.

Yixuan Zhang is an editorial intern at ArtAsiaPacific.