Celebrating hundred years of the last surviving artist from the Progressive movement Krishen Khanna, Mumbai’s National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) showcases his artistic evolution from the 1940s till present
Pieta (2008, oil on canvas) from the personal collection of Karan Khanna, Krishen Khanna’s son. Pic Courtesy/Krishen Khanna
Few artists have painted India’s story like Krishen Khanna. And now, as he turns 100, Mumbai’s National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) is hosting a landmark retrospective titled Krishen Khanna at 100: The Last Progressive.
The exhibition, curated by Dr Zehra Jumabhoy and Kajoli Khanna and spread across all four floors of NGMA, traces Khanna’s artistic evolution from his early sketches in the 1940s to his latest experiments. The Last Progressive brings together eight decades’ worth of art, archives, and emotion, making it the most comprehensive look yet at one of India’s modern masters.
Krishen Khanna
Born in Lyallpur (now Faisalabad, Pakistan) in 1925, Khanna’s early life was shaped by the upheaval of Partition, a theme that runs like an undercurrent through his work. His paintings, marked by empathy and movement, have a deeply human gaze. “The way he saw his subject and portrayed it through their eyes… That’s what you get to see. A lot of his works relate to the common man as they should see themselves,” say the curators of the show.
This exhibition draws from public and private collections, including the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and the Jehangir Nicholson Foundation, as well as from Khanna’s personal archives. For Khanna’s granddaughter and co-curator Kajoli Khanna, the exhibition is as emotional as it is archival. “It’s strange for me to think of him as the last of anything,” she says, referring to him as the last artist to be around from The Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group (PAG). This group, formed in 1947, wanted to break away from conservative art traditions and develop a modern Indian art movement. It was led by FN Souza, and the founding members included SH Raza, MF Husain, KH Ara, HA Gade, and SK Bakre.
A Far Afternoon, from the Piramal Museum of Art collection
At the NGMA, you will see Khanna’s moving Partition-era paintings from the 1940s and ’50s, his abstract experiments from the 1960s, and the dark political canvases of the 1970s that grappled with collective trauma. The show also features rare photographs and catalogues, which offer a glimpse into the artist’s friendships and his years with the PAG. “We haven’t put out a lot of archival elements, but there are just enough to give people context about his works,” says Khanna.
For Khanna, this retrospective is deeply personal and profoundly meaningful both as his granddaughter and as a curator. “I feel a real responsibility to honour his extraordinary journey,” she says, adding that audiences will see all his works for the first time together, as well as works that they have never seen before.
Last Sermon on the Battlefield, from the Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation collection
Jumabhoy, who has previously curated exhibitions on the Progressive Artists’ Group internationally, says, “Krishen Khanna is the last of the Progressives, and this exhibition brings his story full circle from the trauma of Partition and the birth of a modern India to the enduring hope in his portrayal of ordinary people.”
A self-taught artist who once balanced a banking job at Grindlays with painting, Khanna eventually became one of the most recognisable names in Indian modernism. His bandwallahs, processions, and street musicians remain some of Indian art’s most enduring images, grounded in empathy, and feel alive with rhythm.
The Last Bite, from the collection of Minal and Dinesh Vazirani
Jumabhoy urges people to visit, saying, “This is a chance to reconnect with the common man.”
WHEN: Till December 10, 2025
WHERE: National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Fort
TIME: 11 am – 6 pm (closed Mondays)
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