Navshashvatam: Inside NGMA Mumbai's Showcase Of India's Eternal Modern Masters

The National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, is currently showing Navshashvatam: A Show of Eternal Moderns — an exhibition that puts some of the biggest names in 20th-century Indian art under one roof. If the lineup of V.S. Gaitonde, Ram Kumar, F.N. Souza, K.H. Ara, M.F. Hussain and S.H. Raza reads like a checklist of India's modern art canon, that's precisely the point.

What Navshashvatam Is About

The title itself does some of the work: Navshashvatam loosely translates to "eternal moderns," a deliberate tension between navya (new, modern) and shashvat (eternal, timeless). The show's premise is that the artists who defined Indian modernism in the mid-20th century haven't aged into historical curiosities — their work continues to shape how contemporary Indian art gets made and read.

Rather than a single-artist retrospective, Navshashvatam is built as a group show, letting visitors move between radically different visual languages in the same rooms: from abstraction to expressionist figuration to spiritual minimalism.

Quick Facts: Navshashvatam

• Exhibition: Navshashvatam — A Show of Eternal Moderns

• Venue: National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Mumbai

• Presented by: NGMA Mumbai and the Ministry of Culture, Government of India

• Featured artists: V.S. Gaitonde, Ram Kumar, F.N. Souza, K.H. Ara, M.F. Hussain, S.H. Raza and more

• Status: Displaying live now at NGMA, Mumbai

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The Artists Behind The Show

V.S. Gaitonde: One of India's most significant abstract painters, Gaitonde built a body of work grounded in meditative colour fields and calligraphic marks, influenced by Zen philosophy and Paul Klee, that went on to command record prices at international auctions.

Ram Kumar: Known for his brooding, near-abstract landscapes — most famously his Varanasi series — Ram Kumar moved from figurative, socially conscious painting toward abstraction over his decades-long career.

F.N. Souza: A founding member of the Progressive Artists' Group in 1947, Souza's raw, expressionist figures and unflinching subject matter made him one of the most provocative and influential voices in post-independence Indian art.

K.H. Ara: Also a founding member of the Progressive Artists' Group, Ara is best remembered for his still lifes and nudes, and for the self-taught path that took him from a domestic worker's background to the centre of Bombay's art world.

M.F. Hussain: Arguably India's most publicly recognised modern artist, Hussain's bold, gestural canvases — horses recurring as a signature motif — and his prolific, restless output made him a defining and often controversial figure in Indian art.

S.H. Raza: Another Progressive Artists' Group co-founder, Raza spent much of his career in France before his work turned toward the Bindu — a single point that became his recurring meditation on origin, energy and form, rooted in Indian philosophical traditions.

Another Quick Break

Why This Show Is Worth Your Time

Shows that gather this many canonical names in one place don't happen often outside of major retrospectives or museum-scale loans, which is what makes Navshashvatam notable beyond the star power of its artist list. For anyone who has only encountered these painters through auction headlines or textbook reproductions, seeing Gaitonde's colour fields, Hussain's horses and Raza's Bindu works in physical proximity offers a far more direct sense of how differently these artists were working through the same historical moment.

It's also a useful entry point for younger gallery-goers who may know these names mostly from record-breaking auction results rather than from sustained engagement with the actual paintings.

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Planning Your Visit

Navshashvatam is displaying live at NGMA Mumbai. For current visiting hours, ticketing and any updates on the exhibition's run, keep an eye on NGMA Mumbai's official channels — on Facebook as National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, on Instagram at @ngma.mumbai, and on X at @mumbai_ngma.

Navshashvatam: FAQs

What is Navshashvatam?

Navshashvatam: A Show of Eternal Moderns is an exhibition at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, presented with the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, featuring works by major Indian modernist artists.

Which artists are featured?

The show includes works by V.S. Gaitonde, Ram Kumar, F.N. Souza, K.H. Ara, M.F. Hussain, S.H. Raza and several other modern Indian masters.

Where is the exhibition being held?

At the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Mumbai.

Is the exhibition open now?

Yes, Navshashvatam is displaying live at NGMA, Mumbai. Check NGMA Mumbai's Facebook, Instagram (@ngma.mumbai) or X (@mumbai_ngma) for current details on hours and access.

Does the title Navshashvatam mean something specific?

It combines navya (new/modern) and shashvat (eternal/timeless), reflecting the show's premise that these modernist artists remain enduringly relevant rather than being historical footnotes.