Amrita Sher-Gil was an eminent
Indian painter, sometimes known as India's Freda Kahlo, and today considered an
important woman painter of 20th century India, whose legacy stands at par with that
of the Masters of Bengal Renaissance she is also the 'most expensive' woman
painter of India.
Amrita
Sher-Gil was born in Budapest, Hungary to Umrao Singh Sher-Gil Majithia, a Sikh aristocrat and also a
scholar in Sanskrit and Persian, and Marie
Antoinette Gottesmann, a Jewish Opera singer from Hungary. Her mother
came to India as a companion of Princess Bamba Sutherland .Sher-Gil was the
elder of two daughters born. Her younger sister was Indira Sundaram , mother of the contemporary artist Vivan Sundaram. She spent most of
early childhood in Budapest. She was the niece of Indologist Ervin Baktay. He
guided her by critiquing her work and gave her an academic foundation to grow
on. He also instructed her to use servants as models. The memories of these
models would eventually lead to her return to India
