Sailoz Mookherjea was born in West Bengal in 1906. He completed his diploma in Fine Arts from the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Calcutta, in 1932. He later taught at Delhi Polytechnic and also served as the Art Director at the Imperial Tobacco Company before moving to Paris in 1937.

His work style was founded upon the fundamentals of simplistic forms, fluid lines and dynamic elements. He is considered one of the foremost modernists of India. He gained inspiration from European artists such as Matisse, while, at the same time, drawing from the work and aesthetics of Basohli miniatures and the Bengal School. His artistic themes amalgamate nature and rural scenes with bold lines and an empowering colour palette. His works emphasise colour over form and render a high degree of expression and movement in his protagonists.

Mookherjea’s later landscape compositions illustrate a shift towards a complete disregard of form and the signifying function of the line, in favour of arbitrary scribbles and intermingling colours. Mookherjea’s works have been exhibited across India and internationally, including at the UNESCO World Art Heritage Exhibition in Paris in 1946. His works are part of several important collections of Indian art, including those of the Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata, the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, and the Jehangir Nicholson Gallery, Mumbai.

In 1979, the Archaeological Survey of India declared him one of the Nine Masters of Indian art. The Post released a stamp featuring one of his paintings. Sailoz Mookherjea passed away in 1960.