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some years after he had painted Radha in Moonlight for Kilimanur,
Shungrasoobyer Avergal, he wrote to Avergal, who had now 26 November, 1896.
been the Dewan of Travancore since 1892. He explained to S. Shungrasoobyer Avergal,
Avergal that a museum/picture gallery in Trivandrum was Dewan,
necessary and that it would certainly bring a change to the Trivandrum.
aesthetic sensibility of the general public. Agreeably to our conversation of the other day, I have
the pleasure to place before you four subjects for paintings
A year later the matter was still hanging fire but after as a beginning for the proposed Picture Gallery at
another conversation between the two of them, Ravi Trivandrum. I think we cannot do better than begin with
Varma wrote the following letter to Avergal suggesting four classical subjects as they appeal to the feelings and
subjects for paintings “as a beginning for the proposed understanding….
Picture Gallery of Trivandrum”. “It has occurred to me that the establishment of a
picture Gallery at the Capital will prove of no small advantage
to the Art by stimulating and encouraging local talent and
placing before beginners proper models for guidance. I need
hardly dwell on its value to the general public as a permanent
source of educational enjoyment.
I consulted our well known artist Ravi Varma of
Kilimanur on the subject and in his opinion the scheme
cannot be started too soon. As a result of our conference…”
Opening page of the letter written by Ravi Varma to Shungrasoobyer At a time that few Indian were thinking of museums or
Avergal, 26 November 1896 regarding the opening of the picture gallery picture galleries, Ravi Varma had conceptualised and acted
in Trivandrum. upon it. He did not survive to see his dream museum even
though he had put the wheels in motion. In 1935, his
collection was brought to Trivandrum to become an integral
part of the newly established Sri Chitra Art Gallery, The four
paintings made for the Travancore palace and for which
Avergal had played such an important role were also
included. For decades, this was the only museum where
Ravi Varma original paintings were on display. Just as he
had predicted, and what Shungrasoobyer understood, the
doors of palaces and fine homes remained closed to the
common man until some of them were gradually turned
into museums and picture galleries.
Rupika Chawla
October 2016
New Delhi
Rupika Chawla is a conservator of paintings based in Delhi, where
she also gives training in conservation. She used to earlier lecture
on conservation at the National Museum Institute, Delhi. She has
contributed to various magazines, written extensively on contemporary
Indian art and maintained a column in the Indian Express for three
years. She is the author of Surface and Depth: Indian Artists at Work
(Viking), A. Ramachandran: Art of the Muralist (Kala Yatra & Sistas),
Icons of the Raw Earth (Kala Yatra), and Raja Ravi Varma, Painter of
Colonial India (Mapin Publishing). Chawla has curated several exhibitions
at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi, Lalit Kala Academy, Delhi
and an exhibition on Ravi Varma at the National Museum, Delhi.
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