Modernist artist Arpita Singh has died at the age of 89
Modernist artist Arpita Singh. Photo: Wikipedia
Modernist artist Arpita Singh, widely known for her detailed figurative works, died of age-related ailments at the Fortis Hospital here on Monday (November 9, 2026), her husband and artist Paramjit Singh told PTI.
She was 89.
“She had been suffering from heart and lung problems for several years. However, she was actively working. Her health deteriorated in the last three days and she was admitted to the hospital,” Paramjit added.
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Her cremation will take place on Sunday (November 15, 2026) at 2 pm at Lodhi Crematorium.
She is survived by her husband. Their only daughter, also an artist, Anjum Singh died of cancer in 2020.
Ms. Singh is known for her extensive body of figurative work, generally centered around the female figure, which reflected the social upheavals and humanitarian crises of her time.
She was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2011 and the Lalit Kala Akademi Fellowship in 2014 for her contribution to the world of art.
The artistic fraternity mourned her death.
Art curator Uma Nair called Singh “the high priestess of contemporary Indian art” and “the female MF Husain of the female arc”. She noted that the beauty of her work was how she “so subtly interweaves violence and chaos and patriarchal mores.
“The power of the narrative lay in her elixir, where the world becomes a quilt of characters playing their own roles… Her work in the early days at the Weavers Center provided her with imagery that created connotations in textiles in contemporary discourse,” wrote Nair.
She added that her ability to balance human figures with largely abstract compositions on canvas and paper “demonstrates her precision and harmonious balance created primarily by relying on contours to lay the formal foundations of her work and create an aesthetic bridge to her development”.
“Her essence was a serious curiosity about form, depth and space, and a playful improvisation—a willingness to shed certainties in search of the novel in terms of life’s inclinations,” Nair said.
Ashok Vajpeyi, a poet and managing trustee of the Raza Foundation, wrote in a social media post that Singh’s “deeply tortured vision ranged from an almost epic fear of contemporary violence to a lyrical celebration of life in its many hues and shades.”
“She created art, intense and alive, which is both an aesthetic testimony of our time and a sharp interrogation. Her love of life, poetry, human community and deep commitment to human and artistic solidarity showed in her art in a rare glow,” he wrote on Instagram.
“Her art outlives her life and would now itself create a new posthumous life. The loss of Arpita Singh is a huge loss to the entire world of Indian culture,” Vajpeyi added.
Published – November 9, 2026 11:16 AM IST