Air India’s Maharaja Collection finds permanent home at Red Fort

A defining slice of Air India’s cultural legacy has found a permanent public home at New Delhi’s Red Fort, where the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) has opened two new galleries to house the airline's historic art collection put together over 80-odd years.

- VEENU SANDHU

While the galleries were inaugurated on December 5, during a Unesco meeting on safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, they will be thrown open to the public on Tuesday, December 23. But before that, on Monday, when Red Fort is closed to visitors, a special event will be held for the living artists whose works are part of the Air India Maharaja Collection.

Housed in two restored British-era barracks, called A1 and A2, the galleries bring together artworks that were formally transferred to NGMA in 2023, after Air India officially returned to the Tata group in January 2022. One of the two exhibitions, titled “Wings of Modernity”, presents a sweeping view of Indian art from the mid-20th century onward.