India will revisit a slice of history next year when it takes a specially curated show of paintings by Rabindranath Tagore to Paris after 81 years to mark his 150th birth centenary in 2011, Culture Secretary Jawahar Sircar said in the capital Sunday. "Argentinian poetess Victoria Ocampo had said to Rabindranath Tagore, who began painting rather late in life at the age of 60, that his art would sell. Tagore agreed to create a series of paintings for an exhibition in the mecca of art, Paris, in 1930," Sircar told reporters.

A series of 17 paintings stand testimony to the profound influence actor Anupam Kher has had on artist Geeta Dass. The paintings, depicting the highs and lows of Kher’s life, fulfilled a life long desire of the artist to translate her deep respect for the actor in a way she knows best. A product of
Lucknow School of Art, Geeta Dass is known for her bold and strong strokes on canvas. Originally from Kashmir, she has witnessed a lot of emotional upheavals in her life that form the basis of her artwork. “I paint human emotions as realistically as my skill allows me to,” says Dass. “This is the first time I have used a living person as inspiration for my work.”

While you look to the skies to find the face that shapes the earth, English artist Curtis Hooper looked down and saw one. “It all happened sometime back, when I was photographing the largest open pit oil mining project in North America, from a helicopter,” he begins. “I discovered a human face around 200 feet long, formed by the wheels of trucks. It was the most unusual thing I had ever seen. It was truly fascinating, not only because of the phenomenon, but also because of the incredible human expression it had,” Hooper goes on.

While Lord Krishna's birth will be heralded by hundreds of dahi handi groups out on the streets on Thursday, families in the city had their own quiet Janmashtami celebrations at midnight. "That is the hour when baby Krishna was born, and we mark it by going to the temple for a long darshan (glimpse) of the Lord,” said Geeta Mehta (48), a housewife from Khetwadi who will also keep a fast on Thursday. "The fast marks the suffering of Krishna's mother during childbirth, but ironically we end up making more dishes and delicacies on that day!"

Over 100 artworks by modern masters S H Raza, F N Souza and M F Husain alongside big names in contemporary art like Subodh Gupta, Rashid Rana and Atul Dodiya will feature in a sale here next month and are expected to realise in excess of USD 10 million. On September 15, Christie's South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art auction will include these carefully selected works from leading 20th and 21st century South Asian artists.

When Salman Khan is not making news for his reported moody behaviour, it seems he is busy channelising his energies onto canvas. Now, the actor-artist says he plans to organise an exhibition of his latest paintings sometime next year. “I think I will have an exhibition sometime in February,” says Khan. When prodded on the possible location, he jokes, “Not in Mumbai. Maybe in Paris somewhere?”