Ranu Mukherjee (art patron)

Lady Ranu Mukherjee (born Priti Adhikary) (1907 – 2002) was a patron of the arts in India. She became Rabindranath Tagore's muse during the last years of his life, established the Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata, and was honored with the Légion d'Honneur by the Government of France.
Born as Priti Adhikary, Ranu Mukherjee's ancestral home was in Tungi village in the Nadia of British Bengal. She was born on 18 October 1907, in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.
By age 11, Ranu had read Tagore's work's collection of Short Stories Golpoguccha). She was then a student of the Theosophical School at Kashi. In 1918, Tagore invited Ranu's father to work with Kshitimohan Sen at Shantiniketan's Vidya Bhavana. Her elder sister, Asha Aryanayakam, and her husband had been living at the Shantiniketan Ashrama for a long time. Having read Tagore's works, such as Gora, Noukadubi, Chinnapatra, and Dakghar, Ranu moved there. She was tutored by the artists Nandalal Bose and Surendranath Kar while staying at Shantiniketan. Soon, she grew close to Tagore, with whom she had already exchanged letters from Varanasi as a reader of his works. Their bond developed into a relationship, and Ranu called him 'Bhanudada,' a name inspired by Tagore's pseudonym, Bhanusingha, which he had used for his poems, Bhanusingha Thakurer Padabali. This relationship blossomed at a time when Tagore was recovering from losing his daughter Madhurilata and remained preoccupied with arranging finances for his project of Shantiniketan. Some sources state that Ranu reignited Tagore's poetic inspiration, reminding him of his first muse, Kadambari Devi. Tagore's poetic creations gained a fresh fervour. The 208 letters written by Tagore to Ranu and 68 letters written by Ranu to Tagore document this relationship, which was misunderstood by many at the time. The letters show how Ranu, aged 12, had inspired Tagore. Ranu accompanied Tagore everywhere and even went to Shillong, where Tagore had composed Shesher Kobita. In 1920, when Tagore's play Bisarjan was staged at the Empire Hall, Tagore played the role of Jayasingha, while Ranu Mukherjee played Aparna's role.
In 1925, Ranu married Sir Birendranath Mukherjee, an Indian industrialist. Having acquired an understanding of art and culture under Tagore's mentorship at the Shantiniketan school, she became Lady Ranu Mukherjee. After her marriage, Ranu's relationship with Tagore changed. Tagore recognized that Ranu now belonged to a different world, and he wrote: "Ranu, please do not call me Bhanu Dada any more. Bhanu Singha is lost forever. He cannot be brought back."
Lady Ranu Mukherjee founded the Academy of Fine Arts in Kolkata in 1933; construction of the present building began around 1952. Ranu Mukherjee contributed paintings and artworks that her family had and which she had inherited to the Academy. The collection Rabindra Gallery, included her photographs from the time of Shantiniketan, manuscripts of Tagore's poems Bhanusingha Thakurer Padabali, etc. In this initiative, she was supported by the then Chief Minister of Bengal, Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, and her husband, Sir Birendranath Mukherjee. The Academy became a center of arts and culture and one of the art societies in India. She remained the President of the Academy till 1997. Besides, she maintained a connection with prominent institutions such as Lalit Kala Academy, Indian Museum in Kolkata, Calcutta University, Banaras Hindu University, Asiatic Society, and Rabindra Bharati University. The French Government awarded her the Légion d'Honneur.
Ranu Mukherjee died on 15 March 2000.