Ruknuddin, active in India in the late 17th century, Radha comes to Krishna with her vina, from the Rasikapriya by Keshavdas, 1685. The San Diego Museum of Art,  Edwin Binney 3rd Collectionof South Asian paintings, 1990:786

 SAN DIEGO, CA.- On Monday, February 27 The San Diego Museum of Art will premiere 106 works of art from its Edwin Binney 3rd Collection in an exhibition titled Into India: South Asian Paintings from The San Diego Museum of Art at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum of Art in Madrid, Spain. 

Roxana Velásquez, Executive Director for The San Diego Museum of Art, will accompany the world-renowned works of art to Spain, sharing these works from the Museum’s Permanent Collection with an international art audience. 

“It is an honor to lend works from our permanent collection to a major international art institution such as the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum of Art in Madrid, Spain – a museum best known for displaying magnificent art from around the world. Equally as exciting is that The San Diego Museum of Art is the institution bringing an exhibition of Indian paintings to Spain for the first time,” says Velásquez. 

Detail from Krishna Cleaves the Demon Narakasura with his Discus, from a Harivamsha («Genealogy of Krishna»). India, ca. 1585–90. Opaque watercolor and gold on paper, mounted as an album page. 30.1 x 18.1 cm. The San Diego Museum of Art, Edwin Binney 3rd Collection, 1990.286

Encompassing works dating from the 12th to 19th centuries, the exhibition explores the range of paintings made for rulers and merchants in India who were culturally rooted in Persian, Central Asian, and European traditions. Having come to India and settled there for prolonged periods, they commissioned paintings by local Indian artists who adapted their styles and practices to accommodate the wishes of their new patrons. 

Through this presentation of 106 works of art and its accompanying catalogue and feature film, visitors will understand the extraordinary abilities of Indian artists to adapt to foreign models while maintaining an essential quality in their work that remains unmistakably Indian. Curated by Sonya Rhie Quintanilla, Curator of Asian Art at The San Diego Museum of Art, Into India has been drawn largely from the thematic displays on view at the Museum between 2004 and 2009. Quintanilla is also the author of the 247-page full-color catalogue in Spanish, Visiones de India, which will be accompanied by an English text. 

Focused exhibitions of works from the Binney Collection previously have been on display in the United States, China, France, Switzerland, and Canada; this will be its first stop in Spain. Individual works from this collection have been lent as objects in exhibitions in many prestigious institutions around the world including The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, NY, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and the Musée Guimet, Paris. 

Detail from Babur's troops take the fortress at Kabul, from an Akbarnama (“Life of Akbar”). India, ca. 1590–1600. Opaque watercolor and gold on paper. 34.2 x 21.7 cm. The San Diego Museum of Art, Edwin Binney 3rd Collection, 1990.288.