Descent of Twilight

Self-taught artist Indra Dugar spent his childhood in Santiniketan—where his father Hirachand Dugar had studied under stalwarts like Nandalal Bose—and considered the university his alma mater too. His work, therefore, carried influences of the Santiniketan environment. Descent of Twilight is an example of the oeuvre that earned him renown as one of India’s finest landscape artists. The advancing dusk, evident through the colours of the sky behind the two trees dominating the picture plane—their silhouettes darkening with the changing light—creates a sensorial experience, highlighted by the emerging crescent moon in the sky.