Untitled

In her early drawings, Amrita Sher-Gil frequently referred to cinematic occurrences, stage performances or dancers with whom she was taken. The subject of this painting, picking flowers in some wooded area, bears witness to the sensuality that Sher-Gil brought to her art making in those formative years as a young teenager. Inscribed behind the painting, in Hungarian, is the following text: ‘For the birthday of my dear Mucikà, hoping to forgive the apparent dislike we show for her from her ever-loving little Amrita’. ‘The painter in Ervin [Baktay, her maternal uncle] was quick to recognise Amrita’s artistic talent, and he guided her to move away from her highly emotional early paintings and to draw from reality, emphasising structure rather than naturalism,’ notes Vivan Sundaram. ‘Under her uncle’s direction, her lines started to become strong and angular, whether in a head of Beethoven or a self-portrait. However she did not give up painting water colours, particularly of the female figure, in an emotionally charged and sensuous manner.’