Pichwai Painting

Pichwai (pichvai) is a style of painting that originated over 400 years ago, in the town of Nathdwara near Udaipur in Rajasthan, India. Intricate and visually stunning, pichwai paintings, made on cloth, depict tales from Lord Krishna's life. Creating a pichwai can take several months, and requires immense skill, as the smallest details need to be painted with precision. Lord Krishna is often depicted as Shrinathji in Pichwais, which is the deity manifest as a seven-year-old child. Other common subjects found in pichwai paintings are Radha, gopis, cows and lotuses. Festivals and celebrations such as Sharad Purnima, Raas Leela, Annakoot or Govardhan Puja, Janmashtami, Gopashtami, Nand Mahotsav, Diwali and Holi are frequently depicted in Pichwais.

Conventionally Pichwai paintings are painted by a group of artists instead of a single artist. Hence, it is difficult to find a signed Pichwai painting. However, recently, some professional artists have started recreating these traditional paintings of Shrinathji, who also sign them. Owing to the extremely detailed and intricate artwork, it often takes months to complete a single piece of artwork by a group of artists.

The artists need immense prowess and tenacity to paint the gorgeous paintings of Shrinathji. Apart from the delicate work the artists have to pay attention to the details such as the expressions and articulation that Krishna and the Gopis carry on their faces, along with their friends and animals. Though these paintings are depictions of Krishna when He was seven years old, His other companions such as Radhika, other gopikas i.e. the milkmaids, Krishna’s friends, the cowherd's men, and the plants and animals such as lotuses, peeple trees, cows and peacocks form an important part of these exquisite paintings.