THE BEST ART SHOWS TO CHECK OUT THIS WEEK

Explore Delhi's best art shows this week—Caravaggio's Baroque masterpiece, Buddhist thangka by Chodak, Jyoti Bhatt's prints, Varad Bang's cinematic art, and rare Company paintings at DAG.

- NOOR ANAND CHAWLA

Some might say the art season dwindles down in the summer months, but this doesn't seem true going by our calendars full of invites to art exhibitions. In this roundup post, we sift through everything and sort out the best of the lot for you.

'MARY MAGDALENE IN ECSTASY' BY CARAVAGGIO: It is indeed rare for an Italian master artist's work to be on display in India. But the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art in collaboration with the Cultural Centre of the Italian Embassy has managed this seemingly impossible task by bringing Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio's 'Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy', painted around 1606, to Delhi. "It's the first time a Caravaggio painting has come to India. This landmark exhibition offers a rare opportunity to experience the mastery of one of the Baroque era's most influential artists. Caravaggio upended the traditional canons of his time, introducing in his works models from real life and a cinematic lighting," explains the Italian Ambassador Antonio Bartoli. Caravaggio was best known for his use of light and shadow, which he honed during the Baroque period of art using emotive realism and a masterful technique. This particular piece has been described as a "poignant depiction of spiritual transcendence, exemplifying his signature chiaroscuro."

ON DISPLAY AT KNMA, SAKET, TILL MAY 18.