Letter of Dream

This watercolour  depicts a woman on a bed holding a letter in her hand. She’s likely dreaming of receiving a letter from a loved one. Around her hover three other figures: two men and one woman. The dreamlike environment is further enhanced by bold washes of watercolour that run all around the central narrative.

Badri Narayan was entirely self-taught and his art betrays a deeply introspective gaze. All of his work was in some way or the other an exploration of the self. He was inspired by various movements and art forms, particularly traditional miniatures, narrative paintings and popular Indian iconography. For his own work, this artist from Andhra Pradesh preferred a certain flat two-dimensionality that nevertheless teemed with life.