Mumbai and Delhi are our twin cities of art. Is one outdoing the other?
Five years ago, when curator and artist Peter Nagy moved from New York to India to open an art gallery, the wise men and women of the art world told him to head to Mumbai. He didn’t. Delhi chose him, he says, because gallery space was more affordable. “I am glad I made that choice because today Delhi has turned out a far more intellectual space than Mumbai. It’s not just Bollywood. And there are so many venues to discuss art without looking only at the market,” says Nagy, whose Nature Morte gallery in south Delhi supports some of the best experimental work in the country.

It takes precious little to spark a small battle between residents of the country’s two biggest cities when the “best city” tag is at stake. When the prize involves the label of India’s top centre of art, the debate is only a little less fiercer: If Mumbai flaunts big artists like Atul Dodiya and Jitish Kallat, Delhi can drum up quite a lot of noise about Subodh Gupta and Arpana Caur.
But in the last two years, the balance seems to have tilted towards the capital. Two successful art summits, world-class infrastructure and non-profit organisations like the Devi Art Foundation, say artists, give it an edge over Mumbai. And ironically, for a city known for cocooning itself in red tape and conspicuous consumption, it’s Delhi’s ability to support non-commercial art that has got artists talking.

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