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Primary sourcePainting

Woman Face

Rabindranath Tagore

A painting by Tagore of a veiled woman's face, held by the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi.

A painting by Tagore from his late-life body of visual art, now held at the National Gallery of Modern Art.

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Painting of a woman's face framed by a dark hooded veil or shawl against a pale tan background. She has large downcast eyes, a small mouth, and a pale oval face, rendered in muted browns, mauves and ochres.
Rabindranath Tagore, Woman Face, undated. National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi.

About this source

What it is

This painting, "Woman Face," was made by Rabindranath Tagore and is held at the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi. It shows a woman's face framed by a dark hooded veil or shawl, with large downcast eyes and a pale oval face rendered in muted browns, mauves and ochres.

Why it matters

Tagore produced a number of such haunting female faces during the painting career he began late in life. These works, created without formal art training, reveal another dimension of a man best known worldwide as a poet and Nobel laureate, showing his restless creative energy across different art forms.

Look closer

  • What feeling does the woman's downcast gaze and muted colour give the painting?
  • Why might an untrained artist choose simple, suggestive forms rather than detailed realism?
  • What might be left unknown about the identity of the woman in this portrait?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Rabindranath Tagore on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Rabindranath Tagore sources

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Title page of the book Gitanjali (Song Offerings) by Rabindranath Tagore, a collection of prose translations made by the author from the original Bengali, with an introduction by W. B. Yeats, published by Macmillan and Co., London, 1913.Book

Primary source

Song Offerings

Rabindranath Tagore · 1912

Black and white photograph of Rabindranath Tagore leaving a building, Sigtuna, May 1921.Photograph

Primary source

Tagore Leaves the Sigtuna Foundation

Bertil Waldén · May 1921

Title page of Gitanjali (Song Offerings) by Rabindranath Tagore, a collection of prose translations made by the author from the original Bengali, with an introduction by W. B. Yeats. Macmillan and Co., Limited, London, 1913.Book

Primary source

Gitanjali

Rabindranath Tagore · 1910

Black and white photograph of Rabindranath Tagore standing with K.B. Westman and M. Björkqvist, Sigtuna, May 1921.Photograph

Primary source

Tagore with K.B. Westman and M. Björkqvist

Bertil Waldén · May 1921

Piano sheet music score titled 'Jana Gana Mana' by Rabindranath Tagore, in D minor/F major key with 4/4 time, tempo 96, two staves (treble clef) with dynamics like f, p, ff and a fermata at the end.Document

Primary source

Jana Gana Mana

Rabindranath Tagore · 11 December 1911

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