Towards the end of the nineteenth century, a stronger convention was established between art and nationalism. Many painters now tried to develop a style that could be considered both modern and Indian. One of them was the Ravi Varma but some artists thought that Ravi Varma’s style was the imitative of the west. They wanted to develop a style which could truly capture the essence of the East. They wanted to use the traditional painting styles from India.

Some Bengali painter artists felt that a genuine Indian style of painting had to draw inspiration from non-western and tradition and they tried to capture the spiritual essence of the East. So they moved from western style to towards the medieval Indian tradition of miniature painting and the ancient art of mural painting in the Ajanta Cave.

There were some Indian artists and painters who felt that artists had to explore real life instead of illustrating ancient books and look for inspiration from living folk art and tribal designs of rather than ancient or medieval art forms.

Some great nationalist notice the higher position provided to the British flag (The Union Jack) and felt their sentiments hurt. They wanted the paintings of Indian freedom fighters, great historical heroes, reformers and symbols directly related with India.