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India’s art scene has lost one of its most pivotal figures. Peter Nagy, the artist, curator, and gallerist who helped catapult contemporary Indian art onto the international stage, passed away at 67 following a prolonged illness.
Born in Connecticut and educated at Parsons School of Design, Peter Nagy was already a force in 1980s New York, co-founding the original Gallery Nature Morte in the East Village alongside artist Alan Belcher.
It was his 1992 move to India and subsequent 1997 revival of Nature Morte in New Delhi that permanently redefined his career. Nagy fell in love with Dilli’s chaos, pioneering a space for conceptual art at a time when the local market leaned heavily toward traditional painting. Over nearly three decades, he championed Indian talent long before global auction houses took notice, serving as an early champion for powerhouse artists including Subodh Gupta, Bharti Kher, Jitish Kallat, Mrinalini Mukherjee, and L N Tallur.
When Nature Morte opened its Mumbai space in January 2024, Nagy, then the gallery's founding director, described it as a departure from the white cube: more intimate and also a way to widen the gallery's international programming. It was the last major chapter of the gallery, now running across two cities.
Also read: The best art galleries in Mumbai
In an official statement following his passing, Nature Morte paid tribute to their founder’s unapologetic spirit: ‘He lived exactly as he chose: fearlessly, irreverently and wildly free. He had no patience for convention for its own sake, and endless patience for ideas, for artists and for the people he loved. He made the art world more daring, more generous and far more interesting.’
‘Peter was clear that, when the time came, the gallery should not close its doors in mourning. To him, an exhibition was never about the gallery. It belonged to the artist who had poured themselves into it and to everyone who came to see it. He believed an artist’s moment should never be put on hold, and that the truest way to honour a life given to art is to keep showing it. Respecting his wishes, our doors remain open,’ the gallery, now housed in Gulmohar Park, stated.
Inside Nature Morte Delhi and Mumbai: What’s on now
The New Delhi gallery | Nature Morte in Gulmohar Park
Having expanded from its historic Neeti Bagh roots through Dhan Mill (now closed there) and into Mumbai, Nature Morte inaugurated its brand-new, permanent flagship headquarters in Gulmohar Park in August 2026.
They’re currently hosting The Evolution of the Soothsayer, a sweeping two-part anniversary exhibition curated by Nagy himself. Celebrating 30 years of the gallery's legacy, the show features 35 artists from its historic roster, exploring identity politics, globalisation, and conceptual representations of nature in a digital age.
Part 1 has wrapped up this October to make way for Part 2, scheduled to run at Gulmohar Park from October 22 to December 12, 2026.
The details
Where: Nature Morte, Gulmohar Park
When: October 17-December 12 (Part 2). Open Mon-Sat, 10am-6pm.
Getting there: The neareet metro station is Green Park.
The Mumbai gallery | Nature Morte in Colaba
Nature Morte in Mumbai is hosting Bolting. The title comes from the botanical phenomenon in which plants under extreme stress flower prematurely and divert their remaining energy into producing seeds. Ragini Bhow first noticed it in her rooftop garden during a heat wave, and it became a way into thinking about adaptation, urgency and survival.
Her wood paintings build botanical and geometric forms from thousands of tiny marks, using pigments she often makes herself from minerals and ash. The cast aluminium and bronze sculptures are set alight from within, burning away into a black powder that is then collected and returned to the paintings as pigment.
The details
Where: Nature Morte, Dhanraj Mahal, Block A, Third Floor, Apollo Bandar, Colaba, Mumbai
When: Until October 25. Open Mon-Sat, 10am-6pm.