Among the best known and most widely honoured of India's modern artists is M. F. Hussain (1915-...). As a young artist starting out in Bombay in the 1930's, he painted film posters to make a living. Over the years his work has been varied. It includes drawings, oil paintings, enormous murals, and works combining photographs and print. His oil paintings, for which he is best known, are expressionist in style . An early series captures in line and colour the energy and movement of horses. Many other works are of everyday scenes. Hussain frequently uses only a few colours, subtly mixing a variety of shades and tones.

M. F. Hussain is, however, only one of dozens of modern artists producing work of outstanding quality. K. G. Subramanyan is best known for his terracotta relief sculptures and his paintings on glass and acrylic sheet. Meera Mukherjee works in the cire-perdue (lost wax) process of metal casting, creating rhythmic swaying figures. Painters include Bhupen Khakar, who captures the life of ordinary, middle-class people. S. H. Raza's modern abstract works are influenced by ancient religious and cosmic diagrams. Vivan Sundaram, in paintings such as Portrait of Father, uses a style of modern realism