Amrita Sher-Gil is influenced by which of the following style?

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 1

The correct answer is Option (1) → Folk art

Note: The given answer, Option (1), is as per the official NTA Answer Key. However, this answer appears to be wrong. As per the NCERT book, the correct answer should be Option (2) → European style, as explained below.

Option (1) Folk art — The answer given by NTA, but it seems to be incorrect. Rural India was a subject she painted. Nothing links folk art with her style.
Option (2) European style — Should be correct. She trained in Paris and knew European modern art at first hand. She joined European modernism with Indian miniature and mural traditions.
Option (3) Deccan miniatures — Incorrect. The miniatures linked with her are those of north India, such as Basohli, and not those of the Deccan.
Option (4) Cubism — Incorrect. Cubism is a style built on geometrical facets. It is linked with Gaganendranath Tagore, not with her.

Advice for the exam: In the real exam, mark the answer that is correct as per the NCERT book. If NTA’s provisional answer key marks a different option, challenge it during the answer-key challenge window, giving proper reasoning. NTA does revise its key when a challenge is well justified, so a sound challenge can raise your marks.

NCERT (2026-27): “Introduction to Modernism in India …Amrita Sher-Gil (1913–1941), half Hungarian and half Indian, emerges as a unique female artist, who contributed immensely to modern Indian art through the 1930s. Unlike others, she was trained in Paris and had a first-hand experience in European modern art trends, such as Impressionism and post–Impressionism. After deciding to make India her base, she worked to develop art with Indian themes and images. Amrita Sher-Gil assimilated miniature and mural traditions of Indian art with European modernism.…”

“Haldi Grinder Amrita Sher-Gil painted Haldi Grinder in 1940. This was the time when she was seeking inspiration from India’s idyllic rural scene. Such a scene, depicting Indian women busy in a traditional activity of grinding dry turmeric, had to be painted in Indian style. It is not surprising that she used bright, saturated pigments to paint this work. Given her training in modern art in Europe, she was quick to see parallels between miniature traditions of north India and modern art of Paul Gaugin, an artist she admired.…”