KANGRA PAINTING is the pictorial art of Kangra, named after the city of Kangra in Himachal Pradesh a former princely state. The Royal Katoch Family patronized the art and it became prevalent mid-18th century. Thus the Pahari paintings came to be known as Kangra paintings. The uniqueness of the Kangra Paintings is that Instead of painting flattering portraits of their masters and love scenes, the artistes adopted themes of eternal love between Radha and Krishna. The paintings were naturalistic and employed cool, fresh colors. The colors were extracted from minerals, vegetables and possessed enamel-like luster. Verdant greenery of the landscape, brooks, springs were the recurrent images on the miniatures..
As the original master pieces are very rare and very expensive to purchase. The current Royal family is trying to revive this lost art by encouraging local artist some descendants of the original masters to make new paintings while staying true to the old techniques.
These new paintings are available for sale on our website and at the Maharaja Sansar Chand Museum [ Kangra Fort ].