Explore the top art galleries in Mumbai like Jehangir Art Gallery and Jhaveri Contemporary, plus emerging venues like Art & Charlie and Method Art Space. Whether you’re a seasoned collector or a casual art enthusiast, Mumbai offers diverse artistic experiences that reflect its rich cultural tapestry.
Mumbai and its wide harbor have given rise to a diversity of artists and creative forms that have influenced the discourse in the country. Almost a century after the Progressive Artists’ Group, which included MF Husain and FN Souza, formed in the 1940s, a creative legacy is still thriving: While programs like Art & Wonderment have brought interested foreigners to the city’s art industry, the first-ever indigenous market for experienced buyers and enthusiasts took place in 2024.
Dive into the creative legacy and contemporary art galleries in Mumbai!
Art and Charlie
On its establishment in 2019, Art & Charlie began as a modest traveling gallery that organized exhibitions of art located in and around Mumbai. Their first performances took place in 2019-20 in urban eateries and cafes, including The Bombay Canteen.
Art & Charlie switched to an entirely digital medium during the epidemic and started hosting thought-provoking and educational events like “Art and the Constitution,” etc. Having all of the experiences from the past saved for the future, Art and Charlie will now use this fresh e-commerce website to keep up their technological experimentation.
For those who have only recently started learning about art, as well as for those who are ardent art enthusiasts, the beautiful location in Bandra is the ideal place. Charlie and Art developed Bandra’s first art and culture house.
Ayesha Parikh, a chartered accountant and former McKinsey consultant, was well-prepared for business during her early post-college years. Having said that, her favorite memory of all that time is the chance to take trips to a few of the top art galleries, art exhibitions, and museums featuring contemporary art worldwide. After working for five years, her passion for artistic endeavors grew too strong to be dismissed, and she began going to night classes at places like Sotheby’s and the Node Center for Curation Studies to find out about the field of art. She quit her job to launch Art and Charlie in Mumbai.
Jhaveri Contemporary
Amrita and Priya, sisters, founded Jhaveri Contemporary in 2010 to promote artists of all ages and backgrounds whose artwork is influenced by South Asian ties and customs. Among several ways the gallery sets itself apart is in the initial scholarship it fosters via its well-curated exhibitions.
A further principle that runs parallel to this idea is the exhibition of the various methods of established artists and up-and-coming talent, frequently through gently provocative dialogue. Jhaveri Contemporary encourages discussion between artists, curators, and historians to advance the field of art by concentrating on uncovering obscure art history. The gallery looks after the estates of Anwar Jalal Shemza, Mrinalini Mukherjee, and Mohan Samant.
Akara Art
Akara combines the cutting edge of modern technique with the rich heritage of contemporary art. Tucked away in Mumbai’s art area, Akara Functions consists of two locations: Akara Modern, which has been recognized as one of India’s top contemporary art galleries since 2015, and Akara Contemporary, which serves as a fresh venue for up-and-coming South Asian and international artists.
In both galleries, Akara brings alternate stories and experiences to the forefront of global conversation while centering India and South Asia within the continuum of international art history. Akara seeks to break down boundaries in all of their varied forms, from the artistic to the geographical, through exhibition programming, artist representation,
institutional partnerships, art fairs, gallery collaborations, and art advisory, from which it was first founded in 2009.
TARQ
Hena Kapadia launched TARQ in 2014 to foster substantive discussion about art and its many meanings and settings. It was intended to function as a sort of lab, a haven for up-and-coming modern artists who would strive to push the limits of how modern art is shown and understood in India. Because of TARQ’s innovative and young style, both new and experienced enthusiasts are urged to explore art acquisition with a critical eye for aesthetics and methods of creation.
Ever since its inception, TARQ has worked hard to develop a comprehensive outreach strategy that complements the gallery’s exhibitions and mission statement. The series of events consists of a variety of educational activities, including talks, gallery tours, and workshops. To create a knowledgeable audience for contemporary art in the future, we plan to interact with a wide range of people.
Method Art Space
In Kala Ghoda, the art quarter of Mumbai, there is an independent creative art space called Method. The venue breaks conventional notions of what constitutes “fine art,” elevating artists and adding to the varied fabric of this metropolis. The method is the outlier leftfield that represents the aggressiveness of shape and departure from the standard in contemporary, street, modern, and occasionally especially classic art.
Usually, those who are showing at Method are mid-career artists who plan to make a significant contribution to the history of modern art. As a venue for creativity, Method takes an active role in every person’s creative process. The genuine spirit of an artist’s creative intent is seen when an opportunity is given to them to produce as they see fit, free from the constraints of commissioned or contracted work.
Tao Art Gallery
Since its establishment in 2000, Tao has grown to become a well-known trademark in the Mumbai art scene. Under the guidance of renowned and trained artist Kalpana Shah, it has experienced the ups and downs of the art industry. Tao has undergone numerous waves of transformation, from the early 2000s, when the gallery’s walls were adorned with artwork of Indian legends like Hussain, Raza, and Tyeb Mehta, to the restoration following the economic downturn with an emerging class of artisans.
Throughout its 25-year existence, Tao has designed and organized two exhibition galleries filled with carefully thought-out exhibitions that showcase a variety of artistic mediums, including painting, photography, sculpture, video, performance, and installation arts. To create a stimulating environment for all of its visitors and to encourage conversation on cultural backgrounds, visual appeal, and the history of the decorative arts, the Gallery is very open-minded towards any kind of imaginative manifestation and places a strong emphasis on the forceful and inventive representation of talented artists.
Additionally, Tao has been fully engaged in releasing art books and planning workshops for the teaching of art, artist engagement discussions, and others based on expert presentations on the visibility of Indian art internationally. According to Tao’s macro-vision, art and life itself are intertwined rather than existing as separate entities.
47-A
47-A, the newest entrant to our collection of galleries in Mumbai, is situated in the center of Khotachi Wadi, a neighborhood known for its Portuguese architectural heritage. Established as a joint venture between Baro Market and Chatterjee & Lal, the art gallery is housed inside a 19th-century Portuguese colonial-style house that has been divided into multiple distinct areas.
One of the first creative galleries in South Asia, 47-A’s programs highlight a diverse range of creative industries that are engaged in India today and in the past, combining prominent artists with those who are still worthy of exploration. When you visit, stroll through the area to experience time travel. The most well-known inhabitant of Khotachi Wadi, fashion designer James Ferreira, can be seen walking around.
Jehangir Art Gallery
Jehangir Art Gallery was founded in 1952 and goes beyond being a premier location for art exhibitions. Situated in South Mumbai, it has a strong connection to the growth of modern Indian art.
Exhibitions by painters, sculptors, printmakers, artisans, ceramicists, photographers, and weavers are held at Jehangir Art Gallery. It frequently hosts engaging conversations and leads talks and workshops on a range of artistic mediums, emphasizing instruction for both laypeople and those with a background in academia.
Potential artisans have benefited from Jehangir Art Gallery’s system, as they consistently seized the chance to engage with the art community on a variety of levels. The public, art enthusiasts, art experts, and artists have all continued to congregate at the gallery.
Nature Morte
Nature Morte was first established in 1982 in New York’s East Village and shut down in 1988. In 1997, Peter Nagy reopened the gallery as an economic venture and a curating endeavor in New Delhi. From the beginning, Nature Morte began to be associated in India with avant-garde and difficult art forms, supporting the conceptual, lens-based, and installation genres and serving as a platform for a new wave of Indian artisans who gained recognition abroad. As the industry leader in India today, Nature Morte is becoming more and more well-known globally and represents some of the country’s most talented modern artists.
Art Basel, Fiac Paris, Art Basel Miami Beach, Paris Photo, Art Dubai, and other major global art fairs have all featured Nature Morte, the initial gallery from India to do so (beginning with The Armory Show in New York in 2005).
Gallery XXL
Modern contemporary art is showcased at Gallery XXL, which also investigates curating procedures leading to opportunities in multidisciplinary fields. Engaging with Indian and foreign artists who are critically reimagining urban art practices is possible in the exhibition. The gallery transforms into a space-time for an extraordinarily vast yearning when urban contemporary and post-graffiti occurrences spark new questions.
The term is a reference to Basquiat’s “extra large” city stroll, which he describes in the film Downtown 81. Working with artists in studios and on the streets, looking for a scale for multiplicity, ambition, and investigation, has collided with this impact.
