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Famous Italian artist Giampaolo Tomassetti presented a special painting based on Varanasi to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was on Italy tour. This painting reflects Tomassetti’s long association with Indian culture and the spiritual nature of Kashi.

While sharing this special moment on social media platform X, Prime Minister Modi described the painting as “a glimpse of Kashi in Rome”. He also appreciated Giampaolo Tomassetti’s decades-long interest and dedication towards Indian traditions and Vedic culture.

What did PM Modi say?

PM Modi said that Tomassetti’s connection with Indian culture is very special and his art further strengthens the cultural relations between India and Italy. He wrote, “Italian painter Giampaolo Tomassetti presented one of his special paintings based on Varanasi. His passion for Indian culture goes back more than four decades. In the 1980s, he started making paintings for books to Vedic culture. After this, between 2008 and 2013, he worked on 23 large paintings based on the Mahabharata.

Giampaolo Tomassetti How much do you know?

Giampaolo Tomassetti is a renowned Italian artist, recognized worldwide for his magnificent oil paintings based specifically on the Indian epic Mahabharata and the spiritual traditions of India. He was born in 1955 in the city of Terni in the Umbria region of Italy. Since childhood, he had a keen interest in drawing and painting.

How did you start your career?

Giampaolo studied in the science stream but he took up art as his profession. He started his career by copying and restoring classical paintings present in the museums of Europe. Later he joined a publishing house in Florence, where he got the job of making illustrations for books to Indian Vedic literature. This proved to be the turning point in his life.

Between 1980 and 1987, Tomassetti was one of the founding members of the International Vedic Art Academy based in Villa Vrindavan, Italy. During this time, he created many Neo-Renaissance style paintings based on Vedic culture and Indo-Vedic subjects. He also did illustrations for books to Vedic culture in the 1980s. His connection with Indian philosophy and culture deepened with time.

Which painting became famous?

His fascination for the Mahabharata inspired him to study this epic in depth for many years. According to reports, he studied the Mahabharata for about five years, after which he created large-scale paintings based on its key episodes.

Around 2003, he started work on a large oil painting project based on the Mahabharata. Between 2008 and 2013, he worked on 23 large paintings to Mahabharata. In some reports their number has also been stated as 25.

What was special in his paintings?

– Huge form of Shri Krishna

– Chariot of Arjun and Krishna

– Pandavas enter Hastinapur

– Kurukshetra war

– Draupadi and Kunti

– Bheem and Hanuman

He showed all these scenes in a very dramatic manner which people liked a lot.

What is the specialty of his art?

The biggest specialty of Giampaolo Tomassetti’s art is considered to be that he combined Indian spirituality and European Renaissance painting style. His paintings show a special mixture of classical European composition, dark colors, huge canvas and Indian religious-spiritual symbols.

His art style is called “Figurative Metaphysical Style”. He works in a variety of mediums such as oil painting, fresco, sculpture, watercolour, pastel and ceramic art.

Did you get any honor?

In 1997, Giampaolo Tomassetti won the “Concorso Nazionale del Dipinto Storico” i.e. National Contest for Historic Paintings. He received this honor for a huge oil painting, which is still displayed in Modica Town Hall in the Sicily region of Italy.