The Finale

The Finale (May 1917), painted by Samarendranath Gupta for the nationalist monthly publication Modern Review, is a quiet yet strong example of the contemporary style of the Bengal School of Art. Founded by Abanindranath Tagore, the school was tied to the Swadeshi movement against the British colonial rule and served as a powerful form of cultural resistance. One of its core artistic traditions/techniques was the Wash Technique, inspired by Japanese watercolorists. It involved multiple layers of translucent watercolour to create soft diffused effects in the painting. This exact tradition was used in the above painting. In the painting, a woman wearing a white saree, positioned off center to left. Her hands are raised near her face in a gesture of prayer, contemplation, grief or acceptance. Flower petals, most likely lotus petals surround the woman, invoking a dark atmospheric environment. Such style is characteristic of the Bengal School of Art with its diffused edges, monochromatic dark tones, and emotional depth and intensity symbolising "finality". The painting can be interpreted as the end of traditional art forms against Western colonization or as a fierce artistic expression of the Swadeshi movement, with such conclusions being made by connecting the artist's ideological aspirations and the art school's nationalist motives. On a more personal note, it can be also be interpreted as a domestic narrative about endings like widowhood, seperation, loss etc.