Vidarbha, known for its layered cultural and historical landscape, has also been home to remarkable artists who shaped India’s visual art narrative.

Among them, three painters stand out for their depth, discipline, and influence that extended far beyond their origins. V. S. Gaitonde, B. Prabha, and Parag Sonarghare represent three distinct generations, yet their work is tied by a shared commitment to thought and form.

Each brought a different vision to Indian modernism, with Vidarbha quietly marking its beginnings before its art reached national and international recognition. Their journeys trace not only artistic evolution but also the changing contexts of creativity across India’s post-Independence decades.

1. V. S. Gaitonde: The Abstract Visionary from Nagpur

Vasudeo Santu Gaitonde, born in Nagpur in 1924, remains one of the most celebrated abstract painters in Indian art history. A graduate of the Sir J. J. School of Art in Mumbai in 1948, Gaitonde was associated with the Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group, which included contemporaries like M. F. Husain and F. N. Souza. His early figurative experiments gradually gave way to what he termed “non-objective” painting, a refined form of abstraction that placed him in a unique position within Indian modernism. He consciously distanced himself from labels and movements, preferring the introspective process that defined his practice.

In 1964, Gaitonde was awarded the Rockefeller Fellowship, which allowed him to work in New York and explore international art scenes that resonated with his disciplined minimalism. His canvases, often featuring layered textures and muted tones, evoked quiet energy and meditation rather than depiction. In 1971, he received the Padma Shri for his contribution to the arts, cementing his place among India’s foremost painters. Despite global acclaim, he lived reclusively, focusing entirely on his art until his death in Gurgaon in 2001. Gaitonde’s works continue to be displayed in major collections and have fetched record prices at international auctions, reaffirming his enduring relevance.

Vidarbha’s connection to his early years places the region on India’s artistic map through a painter who rarely sought recognition yet transformed the visual vocabulary of his generation.

2. B. Prabha: The Graceful Chronicler of Rural Women

B. Prabha, born in 1933 in the small town of Bela near Nagpur, rose to national prominence through her emotive depictions of rural Indian women. Her early life in Vidarbha influenced her visual themes, shaping her sensitivity towards marginalised and working-class lives. She began her formal training at the Nagpur School of Art before joining the Sir J. J. School of Art in Mumbai, where she earned a diploma in painting. Her artistic partnership with her husband, sculptor B. Vithal, resulted in a distinct visual harmony that blended modern technique with social narrative.

Over a career spanning nearly four decades, Prabha held more than fifty exhibitions across India. Her elongated figures, gentle colours, and sombre moods became her signature style. She often portrayed women carrying water pots, working in fields, or enduring urban poverty, giving them quiet dignity on canvas. Her works bridged the gap between modern Indian art and social realism, with a visual language that was both refined and accessible. Critics have described her approach as lyrical yet grounded, an embodiment of compassion through brushstrokes.

Prabha continued to live and work until her death in 2001, which several sources record as occurring in Nagpur. Her legacy is preserved in collections such as the National Gallery of Modern Art, and her work has been auctioned alongside those of her Progressive contemporaries. By placing the lives of rural women at the centre of her compositions, she brought a distinctly Vidarbha-rooted empathy to Indian modern art, giving visual form to lives that had long remained unrepresented in mainstream painting.

3. Parag Sonarghare: The Contemporary Research-Driven Artist

Representing the contemporary generation of artists from Vidarbha, Parag Sonarghare was born in Nagpur in 1987. His academic journey reflects a blend of local grounding and national exposure, beginning with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from Government Chitrakala Mahavidyalaya, Nagpur, followed by a Master of Visual Arts in Art History and Aesthetics from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. His upbringing in a Nagpur district village and subsequent migration to Baroda’s artistic environment shaped a perspective rooted in both observation and research.

Sonarghare’s works often combine painting, performance, and conceptual installation to explore identity, caste, and social memory. His approach aligns with contemporary art’s investigative nature, where visual creation is intertwined with academic inquiry. Galleries such as Maskara in Mumbai and Dotwalk have represented his works, placing him in dialogues that extend beyond regional boundaries.

His participation in exhibitions across India and abroad reflects the growing recognition of new voices emerging from central India.

Unlike earlier painters, Sonarghare’s engagement with form is analytical rather than emotional. His art often stems from field research and archival exploration, using visuals to interrogate history rather than to depict it.

This intellectual orientation marks a distinct phase in Vidarbha’s artistic lineage, showing how the region continues to contribute to India’s evolving art scene. While Gaitonde distilled silence into abstraction and Prabha captured emotion in realism, Sonarghare builds discourse through inquiry, connecting Vidarbha’s cultural roots with the conceptual frontiers of twenty-first-century art.

The journeys of V. S. Gaitonde, B. Prabha, and Parag Sonarghare collectively trace nearly a century of Indian art through the lens of Vidarbha. Their lives intersect at the point where regional beginnings meet global recognition. Each represents a different period in Indian art’s development, from early modern abstraction to socially conscious realism and contemporary conceptualism. The consistency lies in their individual integrity toward art and their grounding in experience that transcends geography.

Their stories also highlight how Vidarbha, often perceived as peripheral in artistic discourse, has quietly nurtured painters of national significance. Through Gaitonde’s meditative abstraction, Prabha’s empathetic portrayal of women, and Sonarghare’s research-based art practice, the region finds expression in diverse forms and languages. Their contributions underline how creativity from smaller cities and towns continues to shape India’s cultural identity. The narrative of these painters demonstrates that art from Vidarbha, though rooted in its soil, has always spoken a language understood far beyond its boundaries.