Ramayan to be focus at The Metropolitan Musem’s upcoming exhibition

Ramayan to be focus at The Metropolitan Musem’s upcoming exhibition

One of the major epic narratives of South Asian literature, the Ramayan, will be the focus of an upcoming exhibition opening at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Florence on August 10. Drawn from The Met collection and including seven promised gifts, Sita and Rama: The Ramayana in Indian Painting will showcase 30 outstanding paintings that narrate the heroic and adventurous tale of Rama’s rescue of his beloved wife, Sita. The works were produced for the Rajput and Pahari courts of north India between the 17th and 19th centuries and will be augmented by four textiles. The highlights of the exhibition, which will be presented in two rotations, include a rare 19th century painting titled Tantric Form of Monkey God Hanuman that is a new addition to The Met collection. The work is a recent gift from Steven Kossak and this is the first time it is being displayed publicly. The exhibition is made possible by The Miriam and Ira D Wallach Foundation Fund. It will be on till August 23 at Met Fifth Avenue, South Asian Exhi
bition Gallery, Florence and Herbert Irving Galleries. 

The paintings and textiles that will be on view capture the collective visual imagination of court artists in their efforts to give form to the dramatic 2,500-year-old Sanskrit narrative, which consists of more than 24,000 verses. Other highlights include an early 19th-century masterpiece — Rama, Sita and Lakshmana Begin their Life in the Forest — that represents the sophisticated late Pahari painting tradition; a rare late 18th-century textile piece, The Combat of Rama and Ravenna; and an important group of six paintings from The Shangri Ramayana series dating from 1690 to 1710. The exhibition is organised by Kurt Behrendt, Associate Curator in the Department of Asian Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The exhibition will be featured on The Met’s website, as well as on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. 

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