Botticelli's Madonna and Child painting is now on display at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) in Bengaluru [1].
The exhibition provides a rare opportunity to view a Renaissance masterpiece alongside Indian icons, highlighting the shared human experience of motherhood. By placing these works together, the show examines how the visual motif of a mother and child migrates across borders and adapts to different regional and religious identities [1].
Titled "One Mother, Many Mother Tongues," the exhibition runs from Aug. 20 to Sept. 20, 2026 [4]. The event is presented by the Consulate General of Italy in Bengaluru in collaboration with the NGMA Bengaluru and the Ministry of Culture [1]. The Prestige Group provided additional support for the showcase [1].
Co-curators Naman Ahuja and Andrea Anastasio designed the exhibition to investigate how identity changes according to religion, language, and culture [1]. The collection focuses on the evolution of the mother-child image as it travels through different artistic traditions, from the Italian Renaissance to the diverse visual languages of India [1, 2].
This exhibition follows a previous showing in Delhi [2]. It aims to foster a cultural dialogue between Italy and India by showcasing how similar emotional themes are expressed through different aesthetic lenses [1, 3]. Visitors can view the works at the NGMA Bengaluru through the end of September [4].
“The exhibition examines how the visual motif of mother and child migrates across borders.”
The arrival of a Botticelli masterpiece in Bengaluru signifies a deepening of cultural diplomacy between Italy and India. By pairing Western Renaissance art with Indian iconography, the exhibition shifts the focus from nationalistic art history to a universal study of human emotion and familial bonds, suggesting that certain visual languages transcend geographic and religious boundaries.
