Graduating from Sir JJ School of Art in 1947, the late painter SH Raza had developed a penchant for painting landscapes. With a childhood spent in the greenery of Madhya Pradesh, where his father served as a forest officer, landscapes were but a natural extension for the artist. Mumbai, however, affected him deeply as well, leading him to paint landmarks such as Flora Fountain and Marine Drive, besides the bustling streets. In his own words, "Since I was living in the city of Bombay, which seemed very beautiful to me, I also painted Bombay, under the sun and under the rain."

In SH Raza: Traversing Terrains, the first major exhibition of the artist since he passed away two years ago, visitors will get to see the formation of his practice and the many influences that he picked up along the way, right from the locales he lived in to the people that he met. "Like many great artists, Raza had an inner restlessness and this made him constantly travel, intellectually and physically. Raza moved from Madhya Pradesh to Nagpur to Bombay to Paris, and finally back to India again — almost like a metaphorical return to roots. He read Indian and French literature extensively, and was aware of different philosophies, thus constantly refreshing himself as a thinker," says Vaishnavi Ramanathan, co-curator of the retrospective.