Mumbai Gallery Weekend 2025: DAG’s ‘Once Upon a Time in Bombay’ rewinds to a city of trams, tranquil roads, and skyscraper-free horizons

Currently on display at DAG (formerly Delhi Art Gallery) in Colaba, these paintings are part of the exhibition Once Upon a Time in Bombay, which chronicles the city’s evolution from seven islands to the bustling urban hub it is today. A highlight of Mumbai Gallery Weekend 2025, the showcase features 42 works by artists like L. N. Taskar, M. S. Joshi, A. M. Mali, G. S. Haldankar, D. C. Joglekar, K. H. Ara, S. G. Thakar Singh, and traveling European artists.

The exhibition beautifully captures iconic landmarks such as the Gateway of India, Banganga, Babulnath Temple, Bassein Fort, Khada Parsi, and Flora Fountain, as well as neighborhoods like Walkeshwar and everyday scenes around temples or the sea. It offers visitors a unique perspective on how these landscapes have transformed since the 19th and 20th centuries.

“It’s a love letter to the city,” says Ashish Anand, CEO and MD of DAG (formerly Delhi Art Gallery), “painted by artists for whom Bombay was a muse.” The exhibition connects the city’s natural beauty—the sea and beaches—with its colonial architecture, sacred sites, and everyday street life.

The exhibition is divided into three sections — Sacred & Storied; By the Sea; and Cityscapes in Time­. “By the Sea investigates the quiet seafront of villages and fishermen’s lives, often with the looming city in the background,” explained Anand. “Sacred & Storied includes works that explore the city’s striking colonial architecture as well as Indian artists’ attempts to reclaim the ‘Indian’ landscape through expressive watercolors of temple and pilgrimage sites.” A highlight in this section is an untitled painting by L. N. Taskar featuring a Maharashtrian temple scene with women dressed in traditional nauvari sarees and wearing Peshwai Nath.

Collectively, the exhibition also captures the enduring spirit of the city and its people with a sense of nostalgia, presenting a time when Mumbai was Bombay. “When its once-leafy roads were a little less frenetic, and one could still enjoy a walk on the beach, revel in the flowering of a gulmohar tree, or see fisher boats return to shore with their catch,” said Anand, adding “These vignettes are difficult to glimpse in today’s Mumbai, where relentless redevelopment propels the present rapidly into the future.”

Both N. R. Sardesai and K. H. Ara’s paintings of Banganga embody this nostalgia. “Cityscapes in Time frames familiar neighborhoods through the lens of unfamiliarity. Did Fort, Sion, or Ballard Pier really look like this? Did Bombay really once have trams?” Anand asked.

The diversity of cityscapes is vividly captured in the works of Baburao Sadwelkar and N. R. Sardesai. Sardesai’s almost rustic depiction in “Cuffe Parade—Where Now Stand the Gagalbhoy Baths!” reveals a cityscape that is now nearly unrecognizable. Similarly, Sadwelkar’s Excavation in the Mazagaon Area reflects the threshold of modernity, narrating the story of a city in constant transformation.

When asked about an anecdote, Anand shared: “For me, S. G. Thakar Singh’s Dusk at the Chowpatty brilliantly represents Bombay through the eyes of an artist who did not belong to the city but came here to accept commissions and paint its views. The painting captures the quality of light when the sun merges with the sea, the reflections in the water, and the people along the shore vividly rendered. The people themselves are those who inhabit the Koli fisher villages by the seaside, while the distant horizon, between the sea and the sky, reveals Bombay with its tall buildings. Here is a Bombay that straddles two somewhat contrary but delightful worlds, captured to perfection by an awarded artist.”

The exhibition at DAG serves as a prelude to a larger showcase at Sir JJ School of Art, featuring additional works and archival materials like maps, literature, and photographs. “Maps are especially fascinating,” Anand shared. “They reveal more about how localities have evolved than almost anything else, offering an engagement that’s both artistic and historical.”