Kerala CM inaugurates Raja Ravi Varma Art Gallery

It is unfortunate that Raja Ravi Varma was only referred for his painting of Damayanthi and Shakunthala, while his work on ordinary people and labourers was not sufficiently noted, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said here on Monday.

Inaugurating Raja Ravi Varma Art Gallery, the biggest art gallery for exhibiting Ravi Varma's and his contemporaries' paintings here in Thiruvananthapuram, the chief minister recalled him as an artist who popularised Indian art.

''He took the art out of the palaces, and apart from painting Gods and Lords, Ravi Varma painted the lives of common men, of people who were labourers. For this, he even roamed the streets of Mumbai,'' Vijayan said.

He said Ravi Varma even played a pivotal role in the creation of Indian cinema, as he had handed over the money that he received after he sold his printing press in Lonavala during the plague pandemic to Dada Saheb Phalke, known as the father of Indian cinema.

''Using this money, Phalke, considered the disciple of Ravi Varma, made 'Raja Harishchandra', the first movie in India,'' Vijayan said.

Ravi Varma had started this printing press to make copies of his paintings so that the common public could also buy them.

''With the printing press, Ravi Varma ensured that the paintings done for decorating the walls of the rich could also be affordable for the poor. He wanted his paintings in the houses of the poor as well,'' he said.

Though world-renowned, the painter was not celebrated widely in Kerala, the chief minister said, adding that the art gallery will now provide the public with a chance to see the rare and invaluable paintings of the master artist.

The Raja Ravi Varma Art Gallery, built at over Rs 7 crore, has world-renowned paintings by Ravi Varma and his contemporaries.

The art gallery is situated inside the museum complex in Thiruvananthapuram.

The Kilimanoor palace, where Raja Ravi Varma was born, handed over several of his paintings that were in the private collection of the palace to the art gallery.

Raja Ravi Varma's paintings are declared national treasures, and there is a ban on the sale of these paintings. They cannot be taken out of India.

However, many art galleries and private art collectors have spent several crores on some of the Ravi Varma paintings in the past.

Ravi Varma's famous painting, 'Yashodayum Krishnanum', was sold for a whopping Rs 28 crore in a painting auction in Mumbai earlier.

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