tour 7 of 8
The Art of Peace: Paintings by the poet Rabindranath Tagore
Untitled, landscape, painting by Rabindranath Tagore
The fertile river landscape of Bengal was a
frequent source of inspiration to Tagore. Landscape imagery often
appears in his poetry and - as here - in his painting. This scene
was painted in 1936 using ink and wash. It may show the area around
Shantiniketan, the school Tagore founded in Bengal in
1901.
'My feelings
seem to be those of our ancient earth in the daily ecstasy of its
sun-kissed life; my own consciousness seems to stream through each
blade of grass, each sucking root, to rise with the sap through the
trees, to break out with joyous thrills in the waving fields of
corn, in the rustling palm
leaves.'
(Letter written at Shelidah,
20 August 1892)
In spite of
Tagore's strong opposition, Bengal was divided following
India's independence from the British Empire, after his
death. Part of it became East Pakistan (later becoming Bangladesh
following the War of Independence in 1971) and part came under the
rule of India as West Bengal.