Krishna Manandhar

Krishna Manandhar was born in 1947 in Bhotahity, Kathmandu, Krishna Manandhar is a pioneering figure in modern Nepali art. His artistic journey began at Juddhakala Pathsala, and in 1965, he received a scholarship from the Indian government to study at Sir J. J. School of Art in Bombay. After completing his diploma in 1970, he returned to Nepal and held his first group exhibition, “SKIB ‘71”, alongside fellow artists Shashi Bikram Shah, the late Indra Pradhan, and Batsa Gopal Vaidya.

He initially started working in an impressionistic style, Manandhar later developed a distinct abstract approach. For nearly two decades, he painted landscapes from an aerial perspective, a signature style that evolved into his current themes “trees and mountains”

For Manandhar, abstraction is not merely a technique but a deep “thought process” a means of connecting to the fundamental essence of consciousness and harmony.

His landscapes, though appearing euphoric and dreamlike, reflects his own state of being. His work achieves a delicate balance between “the physical and the metaphysical”, capturing both the seen and the unseen aspects of nature and existence.

With a career spanning over five decades, Manandhar is among the “first generation of artists” who laid the foundation for modern art in Nepal. His paintings are more than visual representations; they are “passages to psychological realms”, revealing unrecognized aspects of human consciousness. Through mystical arrangements of trees, mountains, and raw earth, he bridges external nature with internal introspection, offering viewers a profound sense of connection.