“All my writings are for the East and my painting for the West,” said Rabindranath Tagore. He seemed hesitant about his art all through his life, and to him, his work was ordinary compared to those of the painters of his time.
Rabindranath viewed his art as nothing more than an amateur play with colours. As he started painting at the later age of his life, he called his art practice the senility of old age and often mocked his art in some of his letters. All these facts may lead us to believe that it was his intention to make his art unimportant, the reason behind this “putting down” could be his assumption that Bangalees were unable to understand his art. On the contrary, it seems that he was well aware of what he was doing.
His first painting exhibition was held in Paris and critiques and art lovers alike were bedazzled by the quantity of the work, as well as the quality of the composition. It was a new spectacle to behold the eyes of the westerners. The unique style of drawing, treatment of colours and the composition has such a distinct feature that overnight he became famous and established himself as a painter.
Although critiques found glimpses of expressionism in his style, Rabindranath never followed the orthodox manner of any particular ism.
A handful of prominent artists of our country commented on Rabindranath’s painting while talking to the Dhaka Tribune:
“Rabindranath was a man of infinite magnitude, creating art needs a lot of time and energy. Did he manage to get that much time apart from doing his literary work? I do not think so. All of his art works seem to me just drafts of large dimensional paintings.” – Monirul islam
“Rabindranath was the most modern painter Bangla has ever produced. Uncertainty is a moral character of modernism which turned the whole perspective of art upside down and it is Rabindranath who first rendered this distinct feature in his paintings among the art scenario of this country. He played with uncertainty on his canvas. This is what makes his art, after the paradigm shift of modernism to post-modernism, still contemporary, even at this stage of artistic evolution.” – Dhali Al Mamun
“Before Rabindranath, painters concentrated on form or formal aspect in their paintings. Rabindranath was the first who rendered sensibility in his art. Either consciously or subconsciously he went for the stylistic approach that made his work similar to the German Expressionists of that time.” – Mustafa Zaman
“Rabindranath’s art is unique from every angle, it may be his lack of drawing skill or tendency to draw with whatever was present at hand, it is a fact that no other artist has been successful in imitating his style. It may be for the fact that he had no particular style that can be defined as a viable style of a painter.” – Onukul Majumdar
“Why should an accomplished and Nobel-winning poet take to a brush to express himself and start to paint? Do you think that happened accidentally? He had other mediums to work with and he was regarded as the guru of the poets. So why did he need painting? It was his ultimate urge and his whole life was just a preparation to become a painter. In his 80s, he felt that his preparation is complete and mature enough to paint, this is the reason he started expressing his intentions through line and colour.” – Sohel Rana Pranon
It can be observed that the first and last comments vary in nature, the first being the opinion of a seasoned artist and the last a thought of a promising young talent. All these enable us to believe that Rabindranath’s painting is progressive, multidimensional and time-winning work of art.