Important Notice

It was during Krishen Khanna's stay in Madras in the 1950s that, "Besides painting or perhaps in pursuit of it, Krishen's interest in Carnatic music grew. The well entrenched classical music and dance cultural elite of Madras welcomed the young family. Narayana Menon, a music savant, was Director of All India Radio at the time and was instrumental in introducing him to all the leading musicians and dancers. These included Palghat Mani Iyer, the... It was during Krishen Khanna's stay in Madras in the 1950s that, "Besides painting or perhaps in pursuit of it, Krishen's interest in Carnatic music grew. The well entrenched classical music and dance cultural elite of Madras welcomed the young family. Narayana Menon, a music savant, was Director of All India Radio at the time and was instrumental in introducing him to all the leading musicians and dancers. These included Palghat Mani Iyer, the great mridangam player, his enormously talented student Palghat Raghu, the flautist Mahalingam, T.N. Krishnan the violinist, Balasaraswathi, the reigning doyenne of Bharatanatyam and several others" (Gayatri Sinha, Krishen Khanna - A Critical Biography, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, 2001, p. 48).

"Krishen responded easily to this influence. He sought with his brush to bring to the act of painting the dexterous speed of music. He was intrigued by the informal manner in which a raga began and then entered a formal structure. His attempt was to transform the creation of rhythmic sound in time, into the movement of brush in space, on canvas. Of course the idea of developing an image was intrinsic… the rhythm of the work emerges from the vertical-horizontal positioning of the musicians and instruments" (Ibid.).

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