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Mahakali

1980
Not on view
In January 1980 Srimati began a large-scale work devoted to the goddess Kali. In her diary entry for May 19, she wrote: “I painted the whole day and completed the painting Maha Kali. Thank God Mother has blessed me.” Mahakali is a powerful cosmological evocation of the mighty goddess, a vision of frightful energy wrought through devotion. The ten-armed Kali strides across a turbulent landscape, a skirt of human skulls rattling at her waist. Srimati described being awakened at night by the crushing sounds of the skulls in Kali’s skirt and hearing them until she finished the painting. The degree of the artist’s emotional immersion in the imagery of Kali is evident in the finished work, a painting of great authority that conveys an almost subliminal understanding of the power of the goddess.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Mahakali
  • Artist: Y. G. Srimati (Indian, 1926–2007)
  • Date: 1980
  • Culture: India
  • Medium: Watercolor on paper
  • Dimensions: Image: 29 1/4 × 21 7/8 in. (74.3 × 55.6 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Michael Pellettieri, in memory of Y. G. Srimati, 2009
  • Object Number: 2009.211
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2009 M. Pellettieri
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

More Artwork

More Artwork
Saraswati, Goddess of Learning and Music, Y. G. Srimati Indian, Watercolor on paper, India (Chennai)
Saraswati, Goddess of Learning and Music
Y. G. Srimati
1947–48
Khol, Wood, leather, tuning paste, Indian
Khol
Indian
20th century
Great Indian Fruit Bat, Bhawani Das or a follower Indian, Pencil, ink, and opaque watercolor on paper
Great Indian Fruit Bat
Painting attributed to Bhawani Das
ca. 1777–82
Parashurama, Rama with the Battle Ax, Y. G. Srimati Indian, Watercolor on paper, India (Chennai)
Parashurama, Rama with the Battle Ax
Y. G. Srimati
1946
Dagger (Katar) with Sheath, Steel, silk, Indian
Dagger (Katar) with Sheath
Indian
18th–19th century

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