Kalighat paintings originated in the 19th century Bengal, in the vicinity of Kali Temple in Kalighat, Kolkata, India. Calcutta was the capital of British India from 1833-1912. By the 1830s, artists had arrived in Calcutta from rural villages in Bengal and began to produce paintings that reflected the local history, mythology, customs and conflicts of a colonised society. As a popular art form, these artists are recognised for their use of brilliant colour, simplified images and swift brushstrokes that became the hallmark of Kalighat painting in the 19th and early 20th century. They became very popular and were carried back as mementoes to Britain, Russia, Czechoslovakia, France, and the United States.

Many world-renowned, modern Indian artists like Jamini Roy’s inventive style was derived from the Kalighat paintings consisting of lively, bold and sweeping brush strokes in spite of being trained in classical European painting style. English scholars and cultural figureheads in India including Sir Monier Monier-Williams and Lockwood Kipling amassed vast personal collections, which are now housed in the Bodleian Library and Victoria and Albert Museum respectively.

Kalighat paintings have participated in the emergence of Bengali identity in the colonial capital in the face of the increasing Europe­anization of the city’s intellectual and cultural life. During this period, the British were altering their position from merchants vulnerable to the grace and protection of Indian sovereigns to monarchs of the territory. Anthropologist Mil­ton Singer’s term “cosmopolitan folk culture” aptly describes these paintings.