Features and artists

The essentials

The Bengal School created a gentle, poetic style that looked back to India's past. Its most typical technique was the wash technique: thin, transparent watercolour was applied, and the paper was repeatedly washed with water to soften the colours and create a misty, glowing effect. Outlines were delicate and colours muted.

Key points

• Themes: Indian history, mythology, epics, poetry, rural life and spiritual subjects.
• Medium: mainly watercolour and tempera on paper, not oil on canvas.
• Style: soft, muted colours, delicate lines, slender figures, dreamlike atmosphere.
• Sources: Ajanta, Mughal and Rajput miniatures, and Japanese wash painting.
• Abanindranath Tagore: "Bharat Mata", "The Passing of Shah Jahan", the Arabian Nights series.
• Nandalal Bose: student of Abanindranath; head of Kala Bhavana at Santiniketan; copied Ajanta and Bagh murals; made the Haripura Congress posters; led artists who decorated the original manuscript of the Constitution of India.
• Asit Kumar Haldar: also worked on Ajanta and Bagh copies.
• Kshitindranath Majumdar: devotional subjects such as Chaitanya.
• A. R. Chughtai: graceful, Persian-influenced figures from Lahore.
• Gaganendranath Tagore: Abanindranath's brother, experimented with Cubist-like light and space and made satirical cartoons.

Exam tips

• "Wash technique" and "Japanese influence" usually point to the Bengal School.
• Nandalal Bose = Santiniketan, Haripura posters, Constitution.

Common mistakes

• Thinking the Bengal School used thick oil paint; it preferred watercolour and wash.
• Confusing Gaganendranath with Abanindranath.