BIKASH BHATACHARJEE

Recognized as India’s leading painter in the western realist and surrealist traditions, Bikash Bhattacharjee is known the world over for works that are haunting , somewhat disturbing and portray the grim realities of urban, middle class existence in a city like Kolkata.

Bikash Bhattacharjee was born in Kolkata in 1940. He graduated from the Indian College of Arts and Draftsmanship, Kolkata in 1963 where he began teaching in 1968. In 1973, he began teaching at the Government College of Art and Craft and taught there till 1982. He was also a member of the Society of Contemporary Artists.

Acclaimed the world over for juxtaposing the real with the unreal, Bikash Bhattacharjee in his art portrayed subjects from his immediate socio-cultural milieu – old men and women, children, women, etc. But what was distinct was that he infused these subjects with such intensity that by looking at the paintings, one would get a sense of eerie disturbance, one would almost want to travel into the psyche of those characters. Such was the depth of intensity in his works.