Railway Station

Everyday subjects, strong, clear line work, and a simple palette of bright colors (often red, yellow, and black) make Gopal Saha’s works immediately recognizable. He is among Mithila’s few male artists; he took up painting to earn a living after a snakebite incident left his legs paralyzed and he was no longer able to run the tea shop he owned in Madhubani.

In many of Gopal Saha’s paintings, one can sense the role of artist as observer. Here a family of four is shown buying tickets at the railway station as a passenger-laden train pulls in (or out) of the station. In 2017, in a local government–led initiative, the Madhubani train station became a canvas for more than one hundred artists who ornamented its ten thousand square feet of wall space with lively paintings. Gopal Saha, who has stopped painting because of old age and poor health, was not among the participants.