Art corner
Deciphering The World is Poetry
Can a piece of canvas hold the exact second a poem breathes? The World is Poetry exhibition tries to find out. Brought to New Delhi by Parisian artists Yaseen Khan and Stéphanie Biville, this showcase feels deeply personal. Khan draws from his youth writing Urdu ghazals and translates those rhythmic verses into vivid strokes. Biville works differently. She lets her subconscious take the brush to reveal quiet, hidden landscapes. Together, they treat creation like a beautiful, blind puzzle. Under curator Pascal Biville’s direction, the Rotunda Hall has become a rare space where philosophy and paint actually talk to each other. Every piece feels like an ongoing conversation about mystery and pure chance. You will likely find yourself standing still before these frames, trying to untangle their visual riddles. The show runs until Monday, April 13, at Bikaner House. Go see if you can catch the hidden verses before they pack up.
Fifty Frames Facing the Soul
Seeing fifty portraits in a single room really should feel like far too much to take in. It makes you wonder if these faces are actually hiding their best secrets, rather than being completely honest about what they are showing us. Somehow, at Bikaner House, it feels like not enough time. Sonali Batra has arranged this show chronologically, which sounds like a curatorial cop-out until you’re actually moving through it and realising the hanging is making an argument. Mughal court works sit near European academic paintings and the proximity is quietly devastating. Both do the same political work-keeping the powerful looking powerful. The Indian painters signed nothing while their European counterparts built careers; that gap tells you who portraiture actually served. Then Souza enters, his faces aggressive in their refusal to flatter. By the time you reach Krishen Khanna and Anjolie Ela Menon, the exhibition stops recording and starts excavating. This remains genuinely rare. Go on then, find out who is truly looking back at you at Bikaner House, New Delhi, until April 15th 2026.
