Vadehra Art Gallery promotes contemporary Indian art by organizing exhibitions and through publications, displays, and educational programs. Since the past two decades, the gallery has served as a platform on which modern and contemporary artists have showcased their art to the world.

Due to the lack of art museum culture in India, the existence of such art galleries becomes significant. They help to bridge the gap between public and artists.

History

Vadhera Art Gallery was set up in 1987. In the 1990s, the gallery started to collaborate actively between public and private art sectors. It organized demonstrations of senior artists in collaboration with National Gallery of Modern Art, which is run by the government.

The global recognition of Vadehra Art Gallery further deepened through the collaboration with Grosvenor Gallery in London in 2006. The gallery organized the first Pablo Picasso exhibition in India. This move received an encouraging response from general public, art collectors, and the media. India became a preferred destination for global art.

With this, Vadehra Art Gallery spread its wings and opened a new gallery in London named Grosvenor Vadehra. It organized three exhibitions of Indian art to inaugurate the new gallery. They were: “Here and Now: Young Voices from India,” “Inverting/Inventing Traditions,” and “The Moderns Revisited.” In 2007, the gallery organized a highly recognized display of Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon in New Delhi. The display also included works of FN Souza and Tyeb Mehta.

Objectives

With the support of Vadehra Art Gallery, the Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art (FICA) was set up in 2006. Its objective is to support artists and promote educational activities in visual arts. It aims to benefit established and aspiring artists, art critics, art historians, curators, and other people related to contemporary Indian art. FICA is a non-profit body. Its annual programs include Research Fellowship for visual artists and writers, Public Art Grant, and Emerging Artist Award.

• FICA also aims to encourage children in art through programs. It is focused towards establishing a collection of Contemporary Indian Art.
• Vadehra Art Gallery ventured into art publishing in 1996. The objective was to help artists who were disappointed by the lack of ample literature, documentation, and scholarly debate revolving around contemporary Indian art.

Collections

Collections at Vadehra Art Gallery include works of Arpita Singh, A Ramachandran, Atul Dodiya, and Ravinder Reddy. The gallery has loaned these works to several centers such as Singapore Art Museum, Women’s Studies Research Center, Chicago Culture Center, Kunst museum in Bern, Brandies University, Mori Art Museum in Japan, and Jardin d’Acclimatation.

Vadehra Art Gallery has a collection of 14 books published by the gallery itself so far. The books range from art making techniques and picture books to monographs on artists and a comprehensive art directory. It also publishes exhibition catalogues.

One of the books in the gallery’s collection is “Shilpa Gupta.” It is published in collaboration with Prestel, the global publishing stalwart. There are also extensive publications on Atul Dodiya and Sunil Gupta.

Location and Timing

Location: D-53, Defence Colony, New Delhi-110024
Timing: Monday to Saturday 11:00 am to 7:00 pm. Sundays closed.

How to Reach

Vadehra Art Gallery is located in South Delhi, which is well connected through city buses, cabs, and metro train.