Peter Nagy, Founder of Nature Morte Gallery Who Mastered Indian Contemporary Art, Passes Away at 67

On Monday, Oct. 13, Peter Nagy passed away at 67, sparking a wave of mourning worldwide. He was a US-born gallerist and artist whose experimental taste shaped Indian contemporary art. Renowned as the founder of Nature Morte, the Delhi-and-Mumbai-based gallery, Nagy was highly regarded for his work and creations. The gallery confirmed his passing on social media, writing that “he passed away after a long illness”.

Peter Nagy Passes Away at 67

 

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  A post shared by Nature Morte (@naturemorte_india)

Turning to the Instagram feed, the team of Nature Morte broke the news of Peter Nagy’s sad demise yesterday. Sharing a picture of him, they wrote, “It is with profound sadness that we share that Peter Nagy, founder of Nature Morte, has passed away after a long illness.” Peter founded Nature Morte in 1982 as a space run for artists. For someone who always prioritized art, he hailed from an age in the electric East Village scene of the 1980s and built the gallery into one of the defining institutions of contemporary art in South Asia. 

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Highlighting the artist’s work and contribution to art, his team share, “For more than four decades he championed artists with a rare combination of rigour, instinct and loyalty, believing in them long before others did and nurturing them without pause.”

Speaking about his personality, he lived fearlessly, irreverently, and wildly free. “With no patience for convention for its own sake, and endless patience for ideas, for artists and for the people he loved. He made the art world more daring, more generous and far more interesting,” the caption further read.

Just as Peter wished, the doors of his gallery will remain open in mourning. His team members shared what an exhibition meant to him. “An exhibition was never about the gallery. It belonged to the artist who had poured themselves into it and to everyone who came to see it. He believed an artist’s moment should never be put on hold, and that the truest way to honour a life given to art is to keep showing it.” Though the artist has left for his heavenly abode, Peter Nagy will be remembered for years to come.