Nepal Art

Nepal, a land known as a home to the most of the highest peaks on earth including Mt. Everest and a great repository of medieval art and architecture, is also the cradle of two major religions of the world Hinduism and Buddhism. These two religions in a related short span of time has caused a unique development of cultural legacy of Nepal resulting a great array of art and artifacts.

Besides the history of Nepal is embedded with various colorful episodes at different intervals of time-recorded since 5th century AD. The recent excavations in the western mountains (Mustang) have also revealed the evidence of prehistoric human settlements in those areas. The museums of Nepal have some of those rare specimens, artifacts, weapons dating from all those periods. To a visitor who has a little bias to the history and the historic antiquities, a visit to the museums of Nepal is a must and in fact. are the best refuge after the tiresome shopping spree in the Kathmandu bazars or an arduous trek in the mountains. Similarly, Nepal, in recent times, has also become a unique melting pot of tradition-based painting and the western influences in the contemporary arts.

The city of Kathmandu is a window where one can experience how traditionalism could be easily diffused with the modern trends. In fact, the vibrant art scene of Nepal (today) is a plethora of local and global influences. The art of painting especially, best reflects the sheer profusion of scenic natural landscapes and contemporary figurative and non-figurative compositions. A stroll through the galleries of Nepal would reveal a host of works ranging from internationally established artist to exciting new comers. Overall, the art of Nepal today represents two distinct segments-firstly the tradition based idealistic painting known as 'Paubhas' (also known as 'Thangka' in Tibetan dialect) and the contemporary western style works. The contemporary painting is specially noted for either nature based compositions or compositions based on Tantric elements/social themes. Nepalese painters have also earned international reputation for abstract works based on these themes.

It is this thriving milieu that makes a visit to the art galleries of Kathmandu a pleasurable and rewarding prospect. A list of museums and galleries are presented below which should serve as a preliminary guide to the visitors.