Varna Mythri retrospective of Rumale opens at Salar Jung Museum

Salar Jung Museum is hosting Varna Mythri, a retrospective of artist Rumale Chennabasaviah, showcasing around 80 works. The exhibition highlights his nature-inspired art and spiritual depth, marking the first time his works are being displayed in Hyderabad.

Hyderabad: Salar Jung Museum opens its doors to Varna Mythri – a landmark retrospective that brings to Hyderabad, for the first time, the work of the late Rumale Chennabasaviah, one of Karnataka’s most remarkable artists.

Born in Doddaballapura, near Bengaluru, and shaped by the Indian freedom movement, Rumale went on to live many lives: a nation builder, a politician, an editor, a spiritual seeker, and a cultural and social activist, before eventually returning to art as a self-taught painter at the age of 52.

---

Rooted in a deep love for nature and guided by a spiritual sensibility, his works carry the same quiet intensity he brought to life itself.

Over a lifetime, he created nearly 600 works, some commissioned to document Karnataka’s modernisation, yet it is his intimate, luminous portrayals of nature, Bengaluru’s blossoms in particular, that continue to linger long after one has stepped away.

His current retrospective gathers around 80 of his major works and is curated by artist and critic KS Srinivasa Murthy. The retrospective will be held at Salar Jung Museum, from April 15 to May 25, between 10 am and 6 pm (Fridays closed), and entry is with a museum ticket.