Leela Palace hotel's opulence at heart

From Paresh Maity and Satish Gupta to Satish Gujral and K Laxma Goud, Leela Palace's art collection is steeped in Indian folklore

As I walk into the Leela Palace Hotel in New Delhi, the building feels slightly off-centre. While the façade is inspired by Lutyens Delhi — with its big white-stone building, balconies and balustrades; I walk into the very ornate lobby almost abruptly, as if it is too close to the driveway. It is only later that I realise that the centre of the building isn’t the hotel lobby but the eight-feet-tall Devi, a panch-dhatu sculpture by Satish Gupta, that occupies the central courtyard behind the building.

The statue, which can be seen from almost every floor, is an amalgamation of the various goddesses, with the crown representing Kali, the lotuses above her crown representing Laxmi and Saraswati and the lion at the base representing Durga. The theme of lotuses is repeated in the artwork around the hotel. Taking it forward, there are lotuses on the mosaic floor of the patio and in the two large panch-dhatu installations by Gupta called Let a Thousand Lotuses Bloom on the walls surrounding the courtyard.

Inside the Lobby, there's another series by Gupta called the Golden Lotuses. On the side are two rustic metal installations called The Sun and The Moon by K Laxma Goud, representing a man and woman that celebrate potency and fertility, respectively. The cheerful yet serene bronze sculpture, Devotees, by Satish Gujral, around the corner echoes this theme. The male and female figures seem to be swaying as they dance on a foot each.

The lotuses, as well as the theme of goddess and celebration, continue as I step around the next corner towards the elevators, where I am greeted by two fantastical paintings of the goddess by Jayasri Burman. These bright, surreal paintings show the goddess and her musical instruments transforming into birds and flowers.

Up a floor, I enter the spa and come face to face with Seema Kohli’s Golden Womb. At first glance, her canvas shows a swan with a faceless woman staring at a golden sun, a winged figure lying in her embrace. It's only when I look closely at the canvas that I realise that every bit of it is decorated with trees, water and nymphs.

Egg Dance — Metal sculpture by Pradosh Dasgupta

Hidden on the second floor of the spa is what Gupta calls his favourite set of paintings in the entire collection, after the Devi. This is a series called Silver Moons, a set of 12 paintings that feature pink lotuses, though in a silver landscape this time.

Inside the viewing gallery across the hotel lobby, I walk past an abstract by Paresh Maity, towards two paintings by Subhash Awchat. These spectacular paintings in saffron, gold, orange and blue show his expressionless pilgrim boys from the Parampara series.

At the business centre, I spot Sanjay Bhattacharya’s Memories Revisited — heads holding a conversation as they peek out from behind metal studded wooden doors. My next stop is a geometrical face by Maity from the Face of Life series. Like a lot of the artist’s other works, nature peeks out of this one as well. If you look closely, there’s a bird hidden in the contours of the woman’s face. Her nose ring is a ship’s compass and a boat with its sails unfurled hides in her hair.

Since the lounge is one of the places inside the hotel that don’t face the Devi statue in the courtyard, you have Gupta’s photographs of the Devi on the opposite wall. The place of honour is reserved for a lovely sculpture by Prodosh Das Gupta — the Egg Dance, that depicts human closeness through its three figures.

The art collection at the Leela Palace is atypical in a lot of ways. The artworks are steeped in Indian folklore and the collection is a celebration of the most joyous of modern Indian art.

The other pleasure of the hotel’s art treasure is that its collection of paintings, limited edition lithographs, sculptures and installations were put together by one collector, Madhu Nair, director for design and operations and board member of the group. It therefore reflects the tastes of a single collector, which is rarely seen in hotels. As Tarana Khubchandani, curator of the visual arts section of the Kalaghoda Festival, puts it, “Madhu knew exactly what she wanted to enhance the atmosphere of opulence and she personally spoke to each artist to get the work she wanted.”

But the most important aspect of the art collection is that since a lot of the artwork was created for the hotel and is displayed in the surroundings it was created for, one gets to see an art collection that is in situ. So, despite the opulence of the hotel’s Murano mirrors and gold gilded furniture, the artworks form the heart of the hotel. It is the headliner at the hotel rather than an accessory.

The hotel offers a guided art tour on request
This is an updated version of the article in print