Art in Mumbai

The Scene

Mumbai's art market is India's largest. Jehangir Art Gallery — operating since 1952, free admission. Chemould Prescott Road, Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke, Jhaveri Contemporary represent the commercial tier. The Kala Ghoda Arts Festival each February draws hundreds of thousands.

Key Players

Subodh Gupta makes sculpture from everyday Indian objects — steel tiffins, brass pots — selling at Christie's. Jitish Kallat creates work about urban life and cosmic scale. Bharti Kher — the bindis artist. Chemould Prescott Road — India's most important commercial gallery since 1963.

History & DNA

The Bombay Progressive Artists' Group — Souza, Husain, Raza, Gaitonde — declared in 1947 their intention to create modern Indian art. They succeeded. The auction market in the 2000s made Indian contemporary art a legitimate asset class.

Where to Go

• Jehangir Art Gallery — 161-B M.G. Road. Free.
• Chemould Prescott Road — Queens Mansion, Fort.
• CSMVS Museum — M.G. Road, Fort.
• Kala Ghoda Art Festival — February. Free.

The Outlook

Mumbai lacks a world-class contemporary art museum. Several are in development. When that infrastructure arrives, it will formalize what the gallery scene already demonstrates: Mumbai is one of the world's most active art markets.