Laxman Pai

The Artist

A Life
Painted in
Colour & Courage

Laxman Pai was one of the towering figures of modern Indian painting — an artist whose canvases absorbed the poetry of Jayadeva, the devotion of the Ramayana, and the meditative silences of Indian classical ragas, and gave them back to the world in bold, vibrant form.

Born on 21 January 1926 into a Gaud Saraswat Brahmin family in Margão, Portuguese Goa, Pai discovered his calling as a child in his uncle Ramnath Mauzo's photo studio, hand-colouring black-and-white photographs — an early lesson in the alchemy of colour he never forgot.

During the 1940s, while Goa lived under Portuguese colonial rule, Pai threw himself into the liberation movement and was arrested three times. He studied at the Sir J. J. School of Art in Bombay (1943–47), then moved to Paris and the École des Beaux-Arts, where he worked alongside F. N. Souza and S. H. Raza, absorbing Klee, Miró, and Chagall while remaining unmistakably Indian.

He held over 110 solo exhibitions across five continents and served as Principal of the Goa College of Art (1977–87). He passed away peacefully at his home in Dona Paula, Goa, on 14 March 2021, aged 95.

110+Solo Exhibitions

23Painting Series

70+Years Creating

5Major Honors

From the Family Collection

His Paintings —
Six Decades at the Easel

A curated chronological walk through Laxman Pai's career — early Bombay academy studies, the breakthrough Paris years, the signature Musical Moods and Dance Forms, and the late masterworks. All works shown are held in the family collection.

1940s Bombay & the J.J. School of Art

Standing Male Figure Study — J.J. School of Art, Bombay — c. 1944Standing Male — Anatomical Study

Mangu — seated woman figure study, J.J. School of Art, 7 March 1945 — 7 Mar 1945Mangu — Seated Woman

Seated Woman in Prayer — figure study, Bombay, 3 March 1946 — 3 Mar 1946Seated Woman in Prayer

Forest Light — watercolour landscape, Goa 1946 — 1946Forest Light — Goa

India's Independence — Laxman Pai, 1947 — 1947India's Independence

Portrait of Raya, the artist's brother — Bombay, 1948 — 1948Portrait of Raya (the artist's brother)

1950s Paris & Goa · The First Great Series

Village Lane — Goa, 1956 watercolour — 1956Village Lane — Goa

Tree of Life with Blossoms — Laxman Pai, 1950s — 1950sTree of Life with Blossoms

Female Form Standing — Laxman Pai, 1950s — 1950sFemale Form — Standing

Gitagovinda — Radha & Krishna pastoral, Paris 1957 — Paris 1957Gitagovinda — Radha & Krishna

Royal Procession with Elephant — Paris 1957 — Paris 1957Royal Procession

Four Dancers — Paris 1957 — Paris 1957Four Dancers

Festival Procession with Palanquin — Paris 1957 — Paris 1957Festival Procession

1960s Musical Moods & Dance Forms · The Signature Years

Night Raga — Musical Moods series, c. 1965 — c. 1965Night Raga · Musical Moods

Fire & Water — spiral abstract, Musical Moods era — c. 1965Fire & Water · Musical Moods

Three Dancers — Dance Forms series, 1967 — 1967Three Dancers · Dance Forms

Forest in Green & Gold — 1960s — 1960sForest in Green & Gold

1970s Kangara Portraits & Later Engagements

Two Faces — a diptych in cool & warm, 1972 (Kangara Portraits era) — 1972Two Faces — Cool & Warm

Three Listeners — 1978 — 1978Three Listeners

1980s Goa College of Art · Principal Years

Coast of Goa — pyramidal allegory of the Konkan coast, 1988 — 1988Coast of Goa

1990s Navraasa, Jeevanotsava & the Mature Voice

Panchatatva — the five elements, 1993 — 1993Panchatatva — Five Elements

Purush & Prakriti — a couple portrait, c. 1994 — c. 1994Purush & Prakriti

Ganesha — frontal portrait, 1996 — 1996Ganesha — Frontal

2000s Spring Flowers & the Family Tree

Spring Flowers No. 7 — Redmond, 2001 — Redmond, 2001Spring Flowers No. 7

Human Forms No. 26 — USA, 2002 — USA, 2002Human Forms No. 26

Ganesha No. 12 — 2002 — 2002Ganesha No. 12

Eye and Flower — Spring Flowers series, April 2005 — Apr 2005Eye and Flower · Spring Flowers

We Six — My Family Tree, Delhi, April 2007 — Delhi, Apr 2007We Six — My Family Tree

We Six — My Family Tree (Forms 2007 No. 1), USA, June 2007 — USA, Jun 2007We Six — Forms 2007

2010s Forms & Ganeshas · The Final Years

Forms 2010, No. 4 — USA, May 2010 — USA, May 2010Forms 2010 · No. 4

Ganesha — Laxman Pai, 2011 — 2011Ganesha

Ganesha No. 2 — Goa, May 2011 — Goa, May 2011Ganesha No. 2

Complete Works

23 Painting Series
in Chronological Order

Over seven decades, Laxman Pai created 23 major thematic series — from ancient epics to classical ragas, from Kashmir portraits to the Tree of Life.

1954

Gitagovinda

Jayadeva's 12th-century Sanskrit poem — the ecstatic love of Radha and Krishna — rendered with angular figuration and luminous colour. Blends Indian miniature grace with Parisian modernism.

Epic Literature · Devotional

1958

Ramayana (First Series)

Heroic figures rendered in bold contours inhabit landscapes of mythic depth, rooted equally in Indian folk painting and Parisian modernism. The first of two Ramayana engagements.

Epic Literature · Mythology

1958

Life of Mahatma Gandhi

A deeply personal tribute — Pai himself risked his liberty for Goa's freedom. Traces Gandhi's journey from South Africa to Dandi with austere, dignified brushwork.

History · Biography

1959

Life of the Buddha

Meditative and suffused with golden calm. Traces the Bodhisattva's path through simplified forms echoing both Ajanta frescoes and modern abstraction.

Spirituality · Philosophy

1963

Kalidasa's Ritusamhara

Six seasons of Kalidasa's classical Sanskrit poem — the sensuous abundance of monsoon, the delicate bloom of spring, the austerity of winter — in luminous, jewel-like colour.

Nature · Classical Poetry

Signature Work

1965

Musical Moods

His most celebrated series. Pai selected one raga from each thata, played it on the sitar at night until saturated in its mood, then painted the next morning. Each canvas is a synesthetic translation — colour as sound, line as melody.

Indian Classical Music · Raga

1965

Kashmir Portraits

Studies of the people and landscapes of Kashmir — their angular, noble faces; still lakes and snow-capped peaks. The particular rendered as meditation on human dignity.

Portrait · Landscape

1966

Purush & Prakriti

The Sankhya philosophical duality — consciousness and nature/matter — through the interplay of male and female forms. Bold, sensuous, deeply philosophical.

Philosophy · Form

1967

Dance Forms

Celebratory, rhythmic compositions inspired by India's classical and folk dance traditions — Bharatanatyam's angular poses, the whirl of Kathak — frozen in kinetic line.

Dance · Movement · Tradition

1971

Ramayana (Second Series)

Pai's second engagement with the Ramayana — more mature, more distilled. Figures more angular, palette deeper, narrative more confident in its visual economy.

Epic Literature · Mythology

1972

Kangara Portraits

A homage to the Pahari miniature tradition — its willowy women, verdant landscapes — reinterpreted through a thoroughly modern sensibility.

Portrait · Miniature Tradition

1982

Rajasthan

Fort walls the colour of sunset, turbans of turquoise and crimson, camel caravans against a vast sky — Pai distils an entire civilisation into blazing canvases.

Landscape · Culture · Colour

1991

Navraasa

The nine rasas of Sanskrit aesthetics — Shringara (love) to Vira (heroism), Karuna (compassion) to Hasya (comedy). A complete emotional universe in paint.

Aesthetics · Indian Philosophy

1993

Festival of Seasons

Holi's riot of colour, the lamps of Diwali, the harvest's abundance — Pai's palette at its most exuberant, colour spilling across the canvas like song.

Festival · Nature · Joy

1994

Purush & Prakriti in Kamasutra

Sacred eroticism as a path to the divine. Rooted in temple sculpture and Tantric tradition, the body as a site of liberation.

Philosophy · Sacred Eroticism

1995

Jeevanotsava

"Festival of Life" — a celebration of existence itself. Men, women, children, animals, trees, rivers participating in the great pageant of being. One of Pai's most affirmative series.

Life · Celebration · Humanity

1996

Fantasies

Figures, creatures, and forms dissolve into dreamlike tableaux. Influenced by Miró, these works sit at the border of figuration and pure imagination.

Fantasy · Imagination

1997–98

Kaama · Krodha · Moha · Moksha

Desire, Anger, Delusion, Liberation — the four forces that bind and ultimately free the human soul. Each canvas a meditation on inner experience.

Spirituality · Liberation

2000

Shrinagar Faces

A second Kashmir series — entirely focused on faces. The pale silver of winter, the dusty gold of autumn, the tender green of spring. Faces as landscapes.

Portrait · Kashmir · Light

Iconic Series

2001

Tree of Life

The tree — sacred across all Indian traditions, the Ashvattha, the Kalpavriksha — becomes a symbol of rootedness and interconnectedness. Pai's forms at their most lyrical: branches arcing like handwriting across the canvas.

Nature · Spirituality · Symbol

2001

Spring Flowers

Radiant, exuberant, unrestrained — Pai at 75, still painting with the joy of youth. The flower as a statement of love for colour, for the world, for life itself.

Nature · Joy · Colour

2002

Human Forms

A return to the fundamental subject: the human body stripped of narrative. Pure formal investigation — the miracle of anatomy rendered in Pai's angular economy.

Figure · Form · Anatomy

2003

Female Forms

A devoted study of the female figure — regal, sensuous, sovereign. Rooted in Khajuraho and the Chola bronzes, yet entirely Pai's own: angular, bold, modern.

Figure · Femininity · Sculpture

2004

Flowering Flowers

His final major series — a valedictory celebration of the natural world. The flower not as spectacle but as quiet miracle, as gratitude. Tender and meditative.

Nature · Meditation · Gratitude

Timeline

The Artist's Journey

1926

Born in Margão, Goa

Born into a Gaud Saraswat Brahmin family on 21 January. Discovers art at his uncle's photo studio, hand-colouring photographs as a teenager.

1943–47

Sir J. J. School of Art, Bombay

Formal training in painting and fine arts. Begins teaching at J. J. after completing his studies, gaining early recognition as an artist and educator.

1940s

Goa Liberation Movement

Actively participates in the freedom movement against Portuguese colonial rule. Arrested three times — art and activism intertwined from the beginning.

1951

Paris & École des Beaux-Arts

Moves to Paris, studying at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts alongside F. N. Souza and S. H. Raza. Absorbs Klee, Miró, and Chagall while retaining his Indian roots. Holds ten solo exhibitions in Paris.

1954

First Great Series: Gitagovinda

Begins his first major narrative series in Paris. Over the next decade he will complete Ramayana (1958), Life of Gandhi (1958), Life of Buddha (1959), and Ritusamhara (1963).

1961–72

Three Lalit Kala Akademi National Awards

Receives India's highest visual arts recognition three times (1961, 1963 & 1972) — placing him among the foremost painters of his generation.

1965

Musical Moods — The Signature Series

Creates his most celebrated series: playing ragas on the sitar at night, then translating their emotional essence into paint the next morning. Synesthetic art at its highest.

1977–87

Principal, Goa College of Art

Returns to Goa to lead the Goa College of Art for a decade, nurturing the next generation of Goan and Indian artists while continuing to paint prolifically.

1985

Padma Shri

Awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Indian art.

1991–2004

Rich Late Period

Produces Navraasa, Jeevanotsava, Tree of Life, Spring Flowers, Human Forms, Female Forms, and Flowering Flowers — demonstrating undiminished creative energy into his late seventies.

1995

Nehru Award

Awarded the Nehru Award for outstanding contributions to art and culture in the spirit of India's vision of a modern, creative nation.

2016

Gomant Vibhushan

Receives Goa's highest civilian honor — recognition of a lifetime of artistic achievement and service to Goa's cultural identity.

2018

Padma Bhushan

Awarded India's third highest civilian honor by President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan — the pinnacle of a career spent making Indian art visible to the world.

2021

A Legend Completes His Journey

Passes away peacefully at his home in Dona Paula, Goa, on 14 March 2021, at the age of 95. His canvases remain — vivid, joyful, eternal.

A Life Well Lived

In Distinguished
Company

A life that touched everyone — from fellow painters in 1950s Paris to India's prime ministers and presidents.

Laxman Pai with Akbar Padamsee, F.N. Souza, and S.H. Raza in Padamsee's studio at Montparnasse, Paris, 1950s

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Four Indian Painters in Paris

Akbar Padamsee, F.N. Souza, S.H. Raza & Laxman Pai

Padamsee's studio · Montparnasse, Paris · early 1950s

Four young Indian painters in Paris — Akbar Padamsee, F.N. Souza, S.H. Raza, and Laxman Pai — gathered in Padamsee's hotel room/studio at Montparnasse. Souza and Raza had co-founded the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group; in Paris they would together shape the language of modern Indian art for the rest of the century.

Laxman Pai showing a painting to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru

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With Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru

c. 1950s

The young painter — barely thirty — presents one of his early canvases to India's first Prime Minister. A moment of recognition that helped set his trajectory.

Laxman Pai with Pandit Nehru and Lady Edwina Mountbatten, February 1955

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With Nehru & Edwina Mountbatten

Pandit Nehru & Lady Edwina Mountbatten

February 1955

A young Laxman Pai meets Prime Minister Nehru and Lady Edwina Mountbatten — the painter, then in his Paris years, briefly back at the centre of newly independent India's cultural life.

Laxman Pai presents a painting to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi

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With Prime Minister Indira Gandhi

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi

A painting unveiled

Laxman Pai presents a large canvas to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi — recognition of his place among the foremost Indian painters of his generation.

Laxman Pai receives the Padma Shri from President Giani Zail Singh, 16 March 1985

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Padma Shri — President Zail Singh

President Giani Zail Singh

Padma Shri Ceremony · Rashtrapati Bhavan · 16 March 1985

President Zail Singh confers the Padma Shri on the fifty-nine-year-old painter — India's first formal national honor for Laxman Pai, recognizing decades of work that had already taken him from Paris to São Paulo to Bombay.

Laxman Pai with Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar at Dona Paula, Goa, India

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With CM Manohar Parrikar & CM Pramod Sawant

Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar & others

Dona Paula, Goa, India

Goa's legendary Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar (in yellow) visits Laxman Pai at Dona Paula, accompanied by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and other ministers — a warm exchange between Goa's most celebrated figures.

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With Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

A family audience with the Prime Minister

The Prime Minister meets the master painter, surrounded by three generations of the Pai family — a testament to the artist's stature in national life.

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With L.K. Advani

L.K. Advani, Former Deputy Prime Minister

An animated exchange between two legends

Laxman Pai and L.K. Advani in spirited conversation — both men in their nineties, both towering figures in the India they helped shape.

Laxman Pai with President Ram Nath Kovind at the Padma Bhushan ceremony, 2018

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Padma Bhushan — President Kovind pins the medal

President Ram Nath Kovind

Padma Bhushan Ceremony · Rashtrapati Bhavan · 2018

President Kovind personally pins India's third-highest civilian honor on the ninety-two-year-old master — thirty-three years after the Padma Shri, the nation's recognition complete.

Laxman Pai receives the Padma Bhushan scroll from President Ram Nath Kovind, 2018

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Padma Bhushan scroll — President Kovind

Padma Bhushan Citation

Rashtrapati Bhavan · 2018

The artist holds his Padma Bhushan citation, flanked by the Presidential Guard of Honor — the crowning recognition of a life in paint.

A LifePainted inColour & Courage

His Paintings —Six Decades at the Easel

23 Painting Seriesin Chronological Order

Gitagovinda

Ramayana (First Series)

Life of Mahatma Gandhi

Life of the Buddha

Kalidasa's Ritusamhara

Musical Moods

Kashmir Portraits

Purush & Prakriti

Dance Forms

Ramayana (Second Series)

Kangara Portraits

Rajasthan

Navraasa

Festival of Seasons

Purush & Prakriti in Kamasutra

Jeevanotsava

Fantasies

Kaama · Krodha · Moha · Moksha

Shrinagar Faces

Tree of Life

Spring Flowers

Human Forms

Female Forms

Flowering Flowers

A StyleLike No Other

Angular Figuration

Luminous Colour

The Vibrating Line

Classical Indian Roots

The Artist's Journey

Born in Margão, Goa

Sir J. J. School of Art, Bombay

Goa Liberation Movement

Paris & École des Beaux-Arts

First Great Series: Gitagovinda

Three Lalit Kala Akademi National Awards

Musical Moods — The Signature Series