In October 1989, Renu Modi, director of Gallery Espace, organised her first exhibition. Featuring MF Husain’s autobiographical watercolours, the showcase also signified the artist’s support for the New Friends Colony gallery, for which he had also designed a logo with his trademark galloping horse.
“It was he who encouraged me to open an art gallery. I learnt all about light, form, sculpture and the power of lines through conversations with him. At the time, art was not treated as business and there was no strategy,” recalls Modi.
Celebrating 35 years of the gallery, she has witnessed the numerous shifts in the art market, its highs and lows, and the journey of several artists from being young art graduates to now becoming leading names in the art fraternity, including B Manjunath Kamath and GR Iranna. She has also seen the Capital’s rise as an important art hub.
“Most galleries were in Central Delhi till the ’80s. It was a very informal, embracing environment… I used to travel across India to visit artists in their studios,” shares Modi.
This year marks the milestone anniversaries for several art galleries in Delhi that opened at various points in time. While Gallery Espace turned 35, Arushi Arts is celebrating 25 years of its annual exhibition titled “Harvest”. Gallerie Nvya turned 21, Exhibit 320 is marking its 15 years, and Art Alive gallery will turn 25 in 2026.
Artists at a camp organised by Gallerie Nvya in South Africa in 2005
Tripat K Kalra, director of Gallerie Nvya, notes, “I always followed my intuition, both as a collector and a gallerist. During the initial years, I would buy works of senior artists but organise more exhibitions of younger artists to give them a platform.”
Purchasing her first set of artworks in the early ‘90s, she is now celebrating 21 years of her gallery with an exhibition titled “21: Memories & Milestones from then to now” at Bikaner House. It features distinctive works of over 35 artists, including SH Raza’s bindu, Krishen Khanna’s bandwallas, G Ravinder Reddy heads, Manu Parekh and Paresh Maity’s Banaras. Opening with one address in Friends Colony (East), the gallery now has spaces in Saket, Triveni Kala Sangam and the General Aviation Terminal. Kalra adds, “When the art boom happened, commerce in art suddenly became central, but my advice has always been to focus on understanding art while building a collection”
Younger at 15, Exhibit 320 was conceptualised as an inclusive space to showcase more experimental works. Its recent anniversary exhibition “Shared Worlds” at Bikaner House, for instance, brought together works in varied mediums — from Yasmin Jahan Nupur’s Crossing the Border in textile that reflects on collective memories and shared cultures, to Nandan Ghiya’s sculptural work that features found vintage photographs and Sumakshi Singh’s Monuments that recreated the columns from the Qutub Minar Complex on fabric.
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Preparing for her 25th year in 2026, Sunaina Anand, director of Art Alive Gallery in Panchsheel Park, highlights how Indian art has seen several changes in these years.
She says, “It has been a long and interesting journey. When we started, Delhi was still evolving and Mumbai was the primary art destination in India. Now Delhi is also an important art center, with strong programming, publications, events such as India Art Fair and Delhi Art Week. The audience has also evolved and the collector base is broader and diverse. It’s not only about buying, the younger generation is also viewing art more keenly.”
Payal Kapoor, director of Arushi Arts — that has spaces in Okhla and Greater Kailash II — is taking her 25th annual “Harvest” exhibition to Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad. Occupying four galleries at the museum, the showcase that will open on August 31 will feature works of prominent modern and contemporary artists alongside folk artists and younger talent. “A lot of people wondered if this format would work, but now it has grown into becoming one of the biggest exhibitions of Indian art. Throughout the year, I see works of several young artists and the best are part of this exhibition,” says Kapoor.
Modi, meanwhile, will soon be adding another floor to the existing two-storey gallery. She shares, “The added section, named Espace Project Space, will be a cross-disciplinary space where I would like to experiment with exhibition formats in the commercial and non-commercial space, continuing our endeavour to promote art awareness through art education, which is essential for further growth and maturity of the art market.”
Vandana Kalra is an art critic and Deputy Associate Editor with The Indian Express. She has spent more than two decades chronicling arts, culture and everyday life, with modern and contemporary art at the heart of her practice.
With a sustained engagement in the arts and a deep understanding of India’s cultural ecosystem, she is regarded as a distinctive and authoritative voice in contemporary art journalism in India.
Vandana Kalra's career has unfolded in step with the shifting contours of India’s cultural landscape, from the rise of the Indian art market to the growing prominence of global biennales and fairs. Closely tracking its ebbs and surges, she reports from studios, galleries, museums and exhibition spaces and has covered major Indian and international art fairs, museum exhibitions and biennales, including the Venice Biennale, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Documenta, Islamic Arts Biennale.
She has also been invited to cover landmark moments in modern Indian art, including SH Raza’s exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the opening of the MF Husain Museum in Doha, reflecting her long engagement with the legacies of India’s modern masters.
Alongside her writing, she applies a keen editorial sensibility, shaping and editing art and cultural coverage into informed, cohesive narratives. Through incisive features, interviews and critical reviews, she brings clarity to complex artistic conversations, foregrounding questions of process, patronage, craft, identity and cultural memory.
The Global Art Circuit: She provides extensive coverage of major events like the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Serendipity Arts Festival, and high-profile international auctions.
Artist Spotlights: She writes in-depth features on modern masters (like M.F. Husain) and contemporary performance artists (like Marina Abramović).
Art and Labor: A recurring theme in her writing is how art reflects the lives of the marginalized, including migrants, farmers, and labourers.
Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025)
Her recent portfolio is dominated by the coverage of the 2025 art season in India:
1. Kochi-Muziris Biennale & Serendipity Arts Festival
"At Serendipity Arts Festival, a 'Shark Tank' of sorts for art and crafts startups" (Dec 20, 2025): On how a new incubator is helping artisans pitch products to investors.
"Artist Birender Yadav's work gives voice to the migrant self" (Dec 17, 2025): A profile of an artist whose decade-long practice focuses on brick kiln workers.
"At Kochi-Muziris Biennale, a farmer’s son from Patiala uses his art to draw attention to Delhi’s polluted air" (Dec 16, 2025).
"Kochi Biennale showstopper Marina Abramović, a pioneer in performance art" (Dec 7, 2025): An interview with the world-renowned artist on the power of reinvention.
2. M.F. Husain & Modernism
"Inside the new MF Husain Museum in Qatar" (Nov 29, 2025): A three-part series on the opening of Lawh Wa Qalam in Doha, exploring how a 2008 sketch became the architectural core of the museum.
"Doha opens Lawh Wa Qalam: Celebrating the modernist's global legacy" (Nov 29, 2025).
3. Art Market & Records
"Frida Kahlo sets record for the most expensive work by a female artist" (Nov 21, 2025): On Kahlo's canvas The Dream (The Bed) selling for $54.7 million.
"All you need to know about Klimt’s canvas that is now the most expensive modern artwork" (Nov 19, 2025).
"What’s special about a $12.1 million gold toilet?" (Nov 19, 2025): A quirky look at a flushable 18-karat gold artwork.
4. Art Education & History
"Art as play: How process-driven activities are changing the way children learn art in India" (Nov 23, 2025).
"A glimpse of Goa's layered history at Serendipity Arts Festival" (Dec 9, 2025): Exploring historical landmarks as venues for contemporary art.
Signature Beats
Vandana is known for her investigative approach to the art economy, having recently written about "Who funds the Kochi-Muziris Biennale?" (Dec 11, 2025), detailing the role of "Platinum Benefactors." She also explores the spiritual and geometric aspects of art, as seen in her retrospective on artist Akkitham Narayanan and the history of the Cholamandal Artists' Village (Nov 22, 2025). ... Read More
Artists at a camp organised by Gallerie Nvya in South Africa in 2005