Bharti Dayal

Bharti Dayal (born December 1961 in Samastipur in the Darbhanga district of North Bihar) is an Indian artist specialized in Madhubani art.
Biography.
Dayal was born in the Darbhanga district of North Bihar, the Mithila region famous for Madhubani painting. She followed an initial higher education in science and holds a Master of Science Degree (MSc).
Work.
Beginning from a young age, she learnt Madhubani painting from her mother and grandmother, which she pursued as her professional activity from 1984, subsequent to her formal education in science. She has striven to bring innovation in the traditional art practised in Mithila, and maintains her art studio in New Delhi. She has taken it upon herself to help other women artists from her region, guiding them to refine their work.
Dayal has given a contemporary cast to traditional Madhubani art by using modern media such as acrylic and canvas. She paints with natural, vegetable-based colours. In her paintings, there are undercurrents of "love, longing, and peace" in her renditions of Krishna and Radha.
Exhibitions.
Dayal has held numerous exhibitions of her work nationally and internationally. Her Madhubani art was the subject of a documentary shown on French television in 1995. A show of her works in acrylic on canvas painted between June 2015 and June 2016 was organised by the Museum of Sacred Art (MOSA).
Dayal's seven Madhubani paintings, which are a combination of traditional art with contemporary modern subjects, are included in the book "The New Bihar". Her illustration for the book's cover includes a girl riding a bicycle, symbolizing the "empowerment of women and the quest for education", and a fish, which denotes the theme of "rainbow agriculture", or the blending of agricultural pursuits to enhance rural income. Book authors N.K. Singh and Nicholas Stern have observed: "Bharti's use of the traditional style on contemporary themes can contribute to the revival of Madhubani art".