In 1940, seeking inspiration from rural India, Amrita Sher-Gil painted Haldi Grinder. What kind of colours did she use to paint this work?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Bright, saturated pigments
Option (1) Earthy ochres, greens and browns — Incorrect. K. G. Subramanyan keeps to this earthy palette in Fairy Tales from Purvapalli.
Option (2) Shades that blend into each other — Incorrect. In Krishna Reddy’s print Whirlpool each colour blends into the other. Sher-Gil instead set bright colour patches side by side and made shapes by colour contrast.
Option (3) Bright, saturated pigments — Correct. A rural scene of women grinding turmeric had to be painted in Indian style, so Sher-Gil used bright, saturated pigments.
Option (4) Colours applied in quick, sketchy brush strokes — Incorrect. Subramanyan’s Fairy Tales from Purvapalli is sketchy, with colours applied in quick brush strokes.
NCERT (2026-27): “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. This is evident in the way she has placed bright colour patches close to each other and created shapes of figures by colour contrast and not outline.” |