Krishen Khanna was born in 1925 in Faislabad, now in Pakistan. He grew up in Lahore and thereafter attended the Imperial Service College in Windsor, England. He is largely a self-taught artist who started studying art only after graduating from college, during evening classes held at the Mayo School of Art there. His works alternate between narrative and formal concerns. In 1947, Khanna’s family moved to Shimla as a result of the Partition of India and Pakistan, and he was deeply affected by not only the change in his personal life but also the socio-political chaos that reigned around him.

His day job as a banker brought him to Bombay where he was invited to be a part of the now-famous Progressive Artists’ Group. The first exhibition in which Khanna’s works were featured was one of this Group’s exhibitions held in 1949. In 1955, Khanna had his first solo show at the USIS, Chennai, and since then has been exhibiting his work widely in India and abroad.

Similar to several painters of his time, his early works are reproductions of the scenes that were indelibly imprinted in his memory during Independence and partition. Bordering on the narrative, Khanna’s work captures moments in history, much like photographs do, but the artist’s technique is far from photo-realist. He transfers his observations onto the canvas with spontaneity and exuberance, keeping the representational elements of his subject matter intact. The artist’s use of colour and his expressionist brushwork make the mundane rise to the challenge of the creative.

From the late 1960s, he engaged in a series of paintings on Christ, his fascination with religious symbolism and Christian imagery having started when his father brought Khanna a copy of Da Vinci’s The Last Supper. In 1950s he moved to Madras where he got interested in music. Khanna’s works that often focus on musicians, are indicative of his personal interest in music and an attempt to capture its undulating rhythms in oil and canvas.

Recognising his immense contribution to Indian Art, the Government of India has bestowed several honours upon him including the Lalit Kala Ratna from the President of India in 2004 and the Padma Shri in 1990.