In the 20th century, while India was still colonised by the Raj, an art renaissance emerged in the heart of Bengal. Called as The Bengal School of Art, it is regarded as one of the earliest modern art movements of the country.

It was defined by its nationalistic philosophy, ruled by strong aesthetic endeavours. Led by prominent faces like Abanindranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose, and Rabindranath Tagore, the Bengal Art School aimed to establish an “Indian Art Style”, forging a new identity against the previous academic styles, integrating Indian and Western techniques with indigenous ones like tempera and wash painting.
The Bengal School bore many eminent disciples, but with the shift of the Indian identity, newer Art groups started appearing.
The Independence of India also marked the birth of the Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group, or PAG. The group was founded by six members including F. N. Souza, S. H. Raza, M. F. Husain, K. H. Ara, H. A. Gade, and S. K. Bakre.
PAG aimed to further the modern art scenario in the country, leaning towards avant-gardeism and realism. PAG includes India’s most beloved and globally celebrated Modern artists, who also happen to be the current market bestsellers.
The PAG favoured Western abstract expressionism, amalgamated with Indian thematic and contextual depictions.
Another major art group established in 1956 by NS Bendre, was the Baroda Group. It was created at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, (Vadodara) in Gujarat.
It expressed itself as an alternative to the Bengal School, promoting contemporary arts.
The members of the group included Bendre, KG Subramanyan, Balkrishna Patel, Himmat Shah, Jyoti Bhatt and Ratan Parimoo and Gulammohammed Sheikh, along with many others.
The Baroda Group experimented with Western Modernism, Bauhaus and Cubism, and the new pop art.