Bhopal’s Bharat Bhavan Under Tarpaulin As Leaking Roof Threatens Priceless Art Collection

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Modern Art Gallery of Bharat Bhavan is now no more than vacant halls. Most paintings by eminent artists that used to adorn the gallery have been removed because of water seeping from the walls and leaking from the ceiling of the multi-arts complex.

Following heavy rains in the city, major parts of the roof have been covered with black tarpaulin sheets to prevent water seepage.

The roof of Modern Art Gallery is leaking at many places and the walls are damp. Over 50 paintings have been removed and shifted to the store to avoid damage to them.

The paintings removed include works by Sudhir Patwardhan, Suresh Chaudhary, Rajesh Ambalkar, Sejal Singh, Veena Jain, Aparna Gill, Smriti Dixit, Vandana Naik, Sangeeti Pathak, Manjusha Ganguly and Amita Rai Goyal. Nearly 300 paintings are displayed at the gallery at one time.

Tarpaulin sheets cover a large part of Bhavan’s roof, overlooking the Upper Lake. Stones and pieces of broken brick of varying sizes have been placed on the sheets to prevent them from being blown away.

The internationally reputed Bharat Bhavan’s permanent collection comprises more than 2,000 paintings, of which around 500 are by top artists including MF Husain, S Sayed Haider Raza, VS Gaitonde, Satish Gujral, Tyeb Mehta, Manjit Bawa, Nareen Nath, Gulam Mohammed Sheikh, Abdul Qadir, Akbar Padamsee and PL Dhawan. These paintings are worth Rs hundreds of crore.

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“We have taken steps to protect paintings from water and fungus. Paintings displayed directly on walls have been removed. Tarpaulin sheets have been placed so that water doesn’t seep inside.

Bharat Bhavan building is almost 46 years old. It needs a major overhaul. We have put up a proposal before Bhavan Trust. Till it happens, we have to take temporary measures to protect the building and everything inside it.”

- Prem Shankar Shukla, chief administrative officer, Bharat Bhavan