Warli painting from Western Ghats of India

The famous Indian art that has been going on for generations, has been expanded from generation to generation, one such art is Warli Painting. It is one of the oldest art forms in India originated by the Warli tribes from the Western Ghats in 2500 BC.

Warli paintings are a very ancient form of Indian traditional art. It is a tribal art mostly created by the tribal people of the North Sahyadri Range in Maharashtra. The Warli paintings in Maharashtra are one of the finest examples of the traditional style of folk paintings. Warli greatly rejects contemporary culture, the warli culture focuses on the concept of mother nature and the warli paintings often depict elements associated with nature. Just as in ancient times people used the walls of their cave as their canvas, similarly the warli artists also use the walls of their mud huts as their canvas. Thane’s artist Jivya Soma Mashe has played an important role in making Warli painting more popular and he has been honored with a number of awards on the national level and central levels for his painting. He was also awarded Padmashree in the year 2011.

The warli painting uses a set of basic geometric shapes: a circle, a triangle, and a square. His daily life is usually depicted in Warli's paintings and instead his special dancer tarpa is also depicted. At first Warli paints only with white pigment made from a mixture of rice flour and water, as a binder with glue, but nowadays there are so many mediums are available for it. Nowadays, Warli paintings are being made on paper, canvas, walls as well as clothes, and Warli paintings are in great demand nowadays.

Demand and popularity of Warli Painting

Warli paintings are no longer confined to clay walls, nowadays this painting is being used in many other places like utensils, sarees, lights, as well as Warli paintings are also used on decorations to enhance their beauty. In addition to this traditional motif many people have started using it on modern elements such as bicycle, car, building, computer, craft, train, etc. Warli painting is a very popular fashion motif today, with designers often using them to make it fashionable. Warli paintings on paper are very popular nowadays and now are sold all over India as well as abroad. Initially, Warli painting was a simple tribal art but now it has gone far beyond this, the increasing demand for Warli painting in cities has developed new forms, variety and different styles of this art.

Himanshu Art Institute has been promoting Indian art from the beginning. The institute also provides a complete certificate course on warli painting where you can learn more about warli painting, or you can also join the workshop on Warli painting for a short duration in the institute. This Warli painting course and Warli painting workshop are available both on-campus and online..