Surjit Akre

Surjit Akre is a distinguished Indian contemporary painter whose professional journey spans more than four decades of dedicated studio practice. She occupies a singular position in Indian art history as the first—and to date the only—Indian artist during the Soviet Union period to have completed Postgraduate specialization in Easel Painting from the prestigious Ilya Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), former USSR, one of the world’s most rigorous academies of classical fine arts.

This rare Russian academic training endowed her with exceptional command over draughtsman ship, anatomy, tonal realism and compositional discipline, elements that continue to distinguish her mature artistic language. Working across oil on canvas, watercolor, pastel, charcoal, sanguine and pencil, Akre has evolved a deeply human figurative vocabulary rooted in autobiographical memory, feminine experience, social contradiction, emotional silence and philosophical reflection.

Over the decades, she has presented more than eighty solo exhibitions and participated in numerous national and international exhibitions, camps and cultural forums in India and abroad. Her works are housed in important private and i...

1978 – 85: Post Graduate Degree in Easel Painting, Faculty of Fine Arts from the Former USSR, Russia,
Imperial Academy of Arts, Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture & Architecture, Decorated with
the Order of the Red Banner of Labour in Former Leningrad. a senior visual artist with over five decades of artistic practice, and the first Indian artist to have earned a postgraduate degree in easel painting from the prestigious Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture & Architecture, former Soviet Union (now St. Petersburg, Russia).”(At present St. Petersburg)
1975: Diploma in Commercial Art, Women’s Polytechnic, New Delhi.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2026 — Bihar, Patna Museum, Retrospective “Quiet Stories: Half a Century” — 50 Years of Art by Surjit Akre (1975–2025)
2025 — India Habitat Centre, 85th Solo Show, Convention Foyer, Lodhi Road, New Delhi
2025 — Ahmedabad, Urmila art gallery, Kanoria Centre for Arts, 84th solo show, "Chitrakatha: Kahaniyon Ki Kalpana" Recent Paintings by Surjit Akre
2025 — Hyderabad, Chitramayee State Gallery of Art, Madhapur, “Hues of my Soul”
2024 — Bhopal, , Roopankar Museum of Fine Arts, 85th Solo Exhibition“Grace and Grit” Recent Paintings
2024 — Amritsar, Thakur Singh Art Gallery, “Shades of Punjab”
2024 —Delhi, AIFACS, “Visions of Time”81st Solo Exhibition of Paintings & Drawings
2023 — Chandigarh Museun and Art Gallery Recent Works Exhibition
2023 — Jaipur, Art Chill, Solo Exhibition
2019 — Mumbai, Jehangir Art Gallery Solo Show Recent Paintings
2019 — Saint. Petersburg. Sponsored by Roerich Family Museum Institute
2016 —Varanasi, Bharat Kala Bhavan sponsored by Banaras Hindu University.
2015 — Kolkata, Birla Academy of Art & Culture.
2014— Saint. Petersburg, Russia “Baramaha” Museum i. i. Brodskiy.
2014 — Solo Exhibition, Russian Centre of Science and Culture
2013 — Delhi, Chennai L.K.A.“I want to liv...