Indian Painting is an old tradition, with ancient texts outlining theories of color and and anecdotal accounts suggesting that it was common for households to paint their doorways or indoor rooms where guests resided. Cave paintings from Ajanta, Bagh and Sittanvasal and temple paintings testify to a love of naturalism.
At first glance, an Indian miniature painting, to the uninitiated, appears nothing more than a clutter and tangle of pastoral settings, dominated by masculine and feminine figures. Yet these scenes are not detached visions of artistic expression but provide the basis of Indian music and art forms. Most of these masterly works are visual creations of emotional and perceptive concepts that depict the ragas or musical modes of Indian classical music. Miniature painters employed at various medieval courts, discovered the potential of limitless self-expression in their depiction and today there are 130 known sets of such miniatures.
The Indian paintings have now acquired a stature of their own. They use materials and techniques from all over the world but express Indian realities and Indian experiences. The respect for tradition and the ability to transcend it at the same time is clearly evident in Indian art of today. This is the essence of what has been described as the eclecticism of the Indian contemporary expression.
Colorful Rajasthan:
The arid desert, the burning sun and scarce vegetation are fogged behind the screen of colorful painting and sculptures of Rajasthan. The traditions in arts are as colorful as the tradition of the many festivals and fairs of Rajasthan. The paintings are colorful and a variant of Mughal miniatures have six distinct styles and flourished in the courts all over north India and even in Deccan. Yet another style in folk tradition also flourishes in styles quite unique to Rajasthan. Just as paintings an overwhelming presence of sculptures can't be escaped. Sculptures in profuse forms of ornamental have festooned temples, step-wells, havelis, palaces and gardens.
Different Styles of Indian Paintings:
Phad Paintings, Mughal Miniature Paintings, Madubani, Murals, Pichwai Paintings, Sketching, Floor painting, Wall Paintings.