Rabindranath Tagore’s 165th Birth Anniversary: When the Nobel Laureate Turned to Art in His 60s

On 7 May, the 165th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) is being observed. While the official commemoration falls today, in West Bengal Rabindra Jayanti is celebrated according to the Bengali calendar. It is observed on the 25th day of Boishakh, which this year falls on 9 May.The Bengali polymath was a celebrated poet, philosopher, novelist, musician and artist. He is famously known for composing the National Anthem of India, “Jana Gana Mana”, and winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 for his “profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse” in Gitanjali.But his contribution to the world of art also deserves mention. He started painting much later in life, at the age of 67. Such was his genius. He once said, “We who

have traded in lyrics should know that these will not find acceptance at another time. This is inevitable. So I often think that only painting has a deathless quality.” He also said, “Now in the evening of my life, my mind is filled with forms and colours.”

“Tagore also often described his art as ‘Sesh boisher priya’ (an affair in the evening of life),” wrote K. C. Chitrabhanu in an article published in The Hindu. Such was his genius that he became one of nine painters designated Indian National Art Treasures, which means their work is of such cultural value that it cannot be exported. He was not formally trained as a painter and began his journey in art by doodling in his notebook. He would then work these into complex abstract forms, sometimes even birds and animals. He also once admitted that he was “partly colour-blind” and would blend red and green into similar tones. This resulted in his frequent use of brown.“Representing a distinct break from the Indian classical tradition and the Bengal School—initiated by his nephew Abanindranath Tagore and enriched by other members of his family—Tagore’s paintings and drawings reflected the influence of artists like Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Gerhard Marx, Georg Muche, Nicholas Roerich, and Gropius, as well as the impact of Freudian psychoanalysis. The deeply agonised, distorted faces seemed to be looking into their own fathomless self, with images emerging from the subconscious depths,” states DAG.The West saw him as a literary celebrity, and he frequently travelled to Europe and America. Tagore’s appearance in flowing robes, with his white beard and hair, gave him a sage-like appearance.

“Jacob Epstein, who sculpted a striking bust of him in 1926, reported that ‘he carried no money and was conducted about like a holy man’. Money was, however, needed to fund his travels, which was one of the reasons that in 1930 he brought some of his paintings to Europe, exhibiting them at the Galerie Pigalle in Paris, where they attracted the attention of both critics and buyers,” stated Christie’s when his painting Untitled (Couple) was put up for sale in 2021 South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art auction.Five artworks by Tagore were placed in a leading museum in Berlin, Germany. The paintings were gifted by him to Germany in 1930, but seven years later they were removed. According to Soutik Biswas for the BBC, “the paintings were purged by the Nazi regime which had begun to classify some ‘inappropriate’ artworks as degenerate. Hitler, a failed artist himself, believed post-impressionist modern art to be ‘evidence of a deranged mind’ and ordered more than 16,000 artworks, including ones by Van Gogh and Man Ray, to be removed from German museums.”

Damian Vesey, specialist in South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art, told Christie’s, “In Europe, his paintings were seen as the artworks of the guru and mystic,” he said. “I think it is very hard to separate the art from the artist at that time.” Vesey thinks it is also hard to say whether the paintings were considered Indian art or modern art. “I think it’s impossible not to see them as modern art, but the pull would have been that they were by Rabindranath from India. There was definitely an element of ‘exotic India’ being an identity marker for these works.”In his lifetime, he painted more than 2,000 images and would even use rags or his fingers to paint on canvas. Last year, his masterpiece From Across the Dark, painted in 1937, fetched ₹10.73 crore at AstaGuru’s “Historic Masterpieces” auction.