Shri Chitra Art Gallery

Shri Chitra Art Gallery

Shri Chitra Art Gallery
4.5
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Popular mentions

4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles213 reviews
Excellent
99
Very good
92
Average
20
Poor
2
Terrible
0

macedonboy
Glasgow, UK1,86,307 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2019
The Sree Chitra Art Gallery is a great art gallery with an eclectic collection of art, mostly focused on painting styles of Indian schools such as Mughal and Bengal schools of art, but there’s also a collection of oriental paintings.

The gallery also a nice collection of paintings by Svetoslav Roerich and Raja Ravi Varma.

Great art gallery.
Written 25 November 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Ravi C
Mumbai, India260 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2013 • Family
Another must see destination when visiting Trivandrum - the Sri Chitra Art Gallery has a wonderful collection of the paintings by Raja Ravi Varma and other members of the Royal Family of Travancore. Having seen the Mona Lisa in the Louvre in Paris, the original paintings of Ravi Varma brought the same excitement in my heart!! Not to be missed at any cost!
Written 26 April 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Madhulika L
Noida, India6,871 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2019 • Solo
This collection of paintings is housed in a lovely little traditional Kerala-style house with lots of woodwork, sloping roofs, verandahs, and plenty of greenery around. The walk up to the gallery itself offers an interesting contrast of experiences. You enter at the main gate of the Museums and Zoos complex, then follow the road which goes past the Natural History Museum and to the Zoo. The Zoo and the Art Gallery share, to some extent, a common entrance. If you’re going to the Zoo, you have to buy a ticket before you go through this gate and head off to the left. If you’re going to the Sree Chitra Art Gallery, you walk right on and straight ahead, through a charming little garden full of flowering trees and plants.

Entrance fees for an adult are Rs 25. Photography is not allowed, and you must leave your footwear in the rack outside.

Inside, the first gallery—including the wings on either side—are devoted to one of India’s most revered painters, the great Raja Ravi Varma (b. 1848, d. 1906). There’s a brief biography of him at the start of the gallery (the gallery also includes the easel he used), and then you can wander about, examining the paintings. I must confess I’d always associated Raja Ravi Varma with only magnificent paintings from mythology or history, or studies of women. But this collection opened my eyes, because there is so much variety here, not just in subject but in style too. The portraits of ‘illustrious personalities’, both Indian and British, are amazingly life-like; the episodes from mythology are reminiscent of the styles followed by some of the European Masters, except that Raja Ravi Varma uses Hindu mythology rather than Greek. There are depictions of everyday life, especially among the poorer people; and there are even some very interesting paintings of riverside scenes, including elephants, which almost have an Impressionist feel to them.

Besides Raja Ravi Varma, there are galleries devoted to other paintings and painters. Behind the Raja Ravi Varma gallery, there’s a short corridor which leads to a back wing, which houses some lovely traditional paintings from Japan, China and Bali (I had never seen Balinese paintings before, and was struck by the charm of these highly detailed, mostly monochromatic works). There are paintings from Indian schools of art, including the Mughal and the Rajasthani. There are also a fine set of paintings by the Roerichs.

When you come back to the entrance of the art gallery, a corridor leading off to one side leads to another set (a two-storied one) of galleries. On the upper floor is a collection of reproduced murals from various sites across Peninsular India. On the ground floor are paintings by Indian artists, including DP Roychowdhury, Madhava Menon (whose studies of birds, bamboos and squirrels are utterly enchanting), the Tagores (including a painting of a bird by Rabindranath Tagore), and C Raja Ravi Varma. C Raja Ravi Varma’s work, in particular, impressed me: it was very, very striking.

There are a handful of paintings in more modern, abstract styles too.

Overall, a very good art gallery. It’s relatively small, so easily doable within an hour. Go, even if it’s just to see the Raja Ravi Varmas: they are stunning.
Written 1 March 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Pahari
Mumbai1,465 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2022
The place could be better maintained. Tends to be dank and the lighting could be better.
It has interesting artwork- a few of Raja Ravi Verma, some from the Tagore family, and other artists. However the experience could be enhanced with better curating and perhaps more interest in a gallery that should be a learning experience.
Written 3 April 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Gangapriya
Chennai (Madras), India116 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2015 • Couples
If one were to look for proof for the fact that we Indians do not know what is valuable and needs to be looked after, the Chitra Art Gallery is a fine example. Masterpieces by great artists are displayed poorly - like in a godown. It is pathetic to see the display and you feel like crying when you visit the gallery. I hope the gallery will be left for professionals to manage and we will be able to showcase our treasures giving them the respect and recognition that they deserve.
Written 20 April 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

venoovasudevan
Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), India91 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2014 • Friends
Tucked in a corner of the Museum in Trivandrum is the Jewel of the Museum. Visitors can feast on the wonderful and priceless paintings of the late King Ravi Varma apart from other priceless possessions. The building is in an obscure place and only visitors who know can visit the place
Written 4 March 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

swamisanganur
Chennai (Madras), India156 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2015 • Family
There are eighty rooms in that palace and only twenty are open for the public. Each one of those twenty rooms has a different type of roof made out of wood - teak or rosewood with amazing art work. The best attractions are the ivory throne made out of forty pieces of ivory with wonderful inlay work and the crystal throne, both of which are truly priceless! Apart from these, there are number of paintings and other artifacts. Of course, one felt that there could be better lighting in such places. This place is MUST visit in Thiruvananthapuram!
Written 13 February 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

shaileshjpai
Mumbai, India172 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Sept 2017 • Couples
This art gallery is located inside the zoo. Tats are 20 Rs each. You can see original paintings by Raja Ravi Verma, his brother and his sister,Roerich and many other artists. Here you can see Chinese paintings.
Written 2 October 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

slgarg
Gurugram (Gurgaon), India23 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2014 • Family
This gallery is located in the trivandrum zoo/museum. The place is located central to the city and is worth visiting only if you have a lot of free time and the weather is good. It can get really hot in day time. The paintings were decent in this gallery but it was not anything special
Written 17 April 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Muhammed Shaji A
Yanbu, Saudi Arabia66 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2014 • Family
If you love paintings and art works you should be here....the collection is good enough to pay a visit
Written 28 March 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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SHRI CHITRA ART GALLERY (2025) All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos) - Tripadvisor

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