The history of Indian art can be best divided into three important phases: the pre-independence, the post independence and the post liberalization phase. 

On the eve of India’s  independence in the late 40s, the stalwarts of Indian art were all carrying forward their nationalist ideals which were born in the British era. The Calcutta Group, which was post-independence era’s most significant art association exuberated these ideals. Its leader, Ramkinker Baij along with Jamini Roy, Paritosh Sen and Somenath Hore had made efforts to spread their ideals and two of the groups influential members Sankho Ghosh and KG Subbramaniyan had been instrumental in opening the new art school at Baroda, which later became one of the premium art institutes of India. One of the Group’s important associate Zainul Abedin had left for Pakistan (later Bangladesh) after the partition of the Indian subcontinent. 

However the prevailing political scenario, the partition, the establishement of new art schools and other factors led to the demise of Calcutta Group after an illustrious span of about seven years. 

The new artists of the post independence era, notable among them Bikash Bhattacharya, Ganesh Paine, Sunil Das, Jogen Chowdhury, Ganesh Haloi, Balraj Panesar, Tapan Talukdar and many others had gathered under a new association called the Society of Contemporary Artists. This was a lose group and allowed individual artists to experiment in forms and ideas without adherence to any dogma. The Society is today the oldest surviving Group of Indian artists. 

However post-independence era’s most esoteric group was the Progressive Artists’ Group. It survived for only one year but its members became internationally famous. This is the first group to have tasted international success. Its members included MF Hussain, FN Souza, Gaitonde, Kishen Khanna, Tyeb Mehta, and SH Raza. 

However Groups had mostly remained short-lived and this had discouraged subsequent generation of artists in India from forming groups any more. Indian artists today work mostly independent. In the 70s and 80s, many of these independent artists like Vaikunthan, Bhupen Khakar, Manjit Bawa, Manu Parekh, Chittrobhanu Majumdar had established independent styles and introduced many new ideas which reflected the changing face of Indian Society and polity. 

In 1991, Indian economy was opened to the world and the country shifted away from its socialist framework. This opened the gates for further international exposure and many of Indian artists now regularly showcase their artworks abroad, in various media. This phase called the post-liberalization era is best represented by a galaxy of new artists predominant among whom are Paresh Maity, Jitish Kallat, Devajyoti Ray, Bose Krishnamachari, Atul Dodiya and Subodh Gupta.