Arpita Singh 1937 – 2026

Biography

Arpita Singh (June 22, 1937 – November 9, 2026) was an Indian artist whose figurative, modernist paintings wove together narrative and densely layered imagery, often centered on the inner and political lives of women. Born Arpita Dutta in Baranagar, near Calcutta, she built a six-decade career that brought her work to major institutions in India and abroad, including a large Delhi retrospective, “Submergence: In the Midst of Here and There,” in 2019 and an exhibition at London’s Serpentine in 2025. Her final solo show, “Unfolding,” was on view at Talwar Gallery in New York. She received the Padma Bhushan in 2011 and the Kalidas Samman. Singh died in Delhi on November 9, 2026, at the age of 89, of an age-related ailment after years of heart and lung trouble. Her husband, the artist Paramjit Singh, confirmed her death.