Exotic India brings to mind images of the Taj Mahal, bustling cities with their spice markets, hot curries, colour and noise, art and architecture both ancient and modern.

Explore the origins and development of the nineteenth-century Indian Renaissance in theatre, architecture, literature, poetry and painting. We start with the arts and architecture of the vibrant city of Calcutta, the capital of British India and central to the arts and culture of modern India.

Following morning tea, John will explore the life and work of Calcutta’s most famous artist: the poet, writer, composer and painter Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941).

Tagore is arguably the most important Indian artistic figure of the modern era – the first Prime Minister of India, Nehru, claimed he had two gurus: Gandhi and Tagore.  In 1913 Tagore became a global sensation when he won the Nobel Prize for Literature, the first non-European to do so. We will be introduced to his remarkable life and work and look at the role Tagore’s art played in India’s fight for independence.