Three Girls (also known as Group of Three Girls) is one of the most significant early works by Hungarian-Indian painter Amrita Sher-Gil, created in 1935 shortly after her return to India from Europe. Painted in oil on canvas, this composition marked a pivotal moment in her artistic transition and her commitment to engaging with Indian subjects through a modern visual language.

Background and Context

Amrita Sher-Gil (1913–1941) trained in Paris, where she absorbed European academic and modernist approaches. Upon her return to India in late 1934, she felt a strong pull to reinterpret her art through Indian life and sensibilities, moving away from purely Western aesthetic frameworks. Three Girls was the first major painting she completed after returning, and it reflects this shift in both theme and style.

Composition and Style

Amrita Sher-Gil’s Three Girls (73.5 X 99.5 cm) depicts three young Indian women seated closely together, each dressed in traditional attire and engaged in quiet introspection. Their faces and body language suggest complex emotions such as pensiveness, restraint, and silent endurance. Instead of emphasizing the background, Sher-Gil concentrates on the figures themselves, using flattened forms, expressive lines, and rich yet muted colours to convey mood rather than narrative action. Art historians often note the influence of Paul Gauguin in Sher-Gil’s handling of form and colour in this work. The painting reflects her movement away from European academic realism toward a distinctive modern style rooted in Indian themes and experiences.

Themes and Interpretation

Three Girls is frequently interpreted as a reflection on female experience, social limitation, and emotional stillness. Although the three figures sit together, they appear emotionally withdrawn, absorbed in their own thoughts and bound by a shared but unspoken reality. Sher-Gil neither idealizes nor objectifies her subjects, instead presenting them with empathy and psychological depth.

The painting also touches upon themes of identity and belonging. Sher-Gil’s own complex cultural background influenced her sensitivity toward questions of selfhood, which is evident in her portrayal of Indian womanhood as thoughtful, restrained, and deeply human.

Reception and Legacy

The painting received the Gold Medal at the Bombay Art Society’s annual exhibition in 1937, marking early recognition of Sher-Gil’s emerging importance in Indian modern art. It was also exhibited in Hyderabad during the same period, though it was not immediately embraced by all collectors due to its departure from conventional styles.

Today, Three Girls is regarded as a landmark work from Sher-Gil’s Indian period and is housed at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi. It remains a powerful testament to her role in shaping modern Indian art.

Conclusion

Three Girls (1935) stands as a defining work in Amrita Sher-Gil’s artistic journey. Through its modernist approach and sensitive portrayal of Indian women, the painting bridges European influences and Indian realities, establishing Sher-Gil as a pioneering figure in twentieth-century Indian art.

Image Credit:
“Group of Three Girls 1935”, Unknown, via Wikimedia Commons
– Public Domain.