Arpita Singh: key obituary facts
Is Arpita Singh dead? Yes. Arpita Singh died on November 9, 2026, at age 89.
Cause of death: Arpita Singh's cause of death has not been publicly confirmed.
What was Arpita Singh known for?
She was an Indian artist (born 1937).
More about Arpita Singh
Born: 1 January 1937.
Place of birth: Kolkata.
Gender: female.
Occupation: painter, artist.
Nationality: India, British Raj, Dominion of India.
Awards: Padma Bhushan, Kalidas Samman.
Also known as: Arpitā Simha.
Arpita Singh, an Indian artist whose figurative and modernist paintings brought together narrative and densely layered imagery, died November 9, 2026, aged 89.
Born Arpita Dutta in Baranagar, near Calcutta, in 1937, she left the city with her mother and brother in 1946. She studied at the Delhi Polytechnic from 1954 to 1959, earning a diploma in fine arts.
Singh’s canvases often combined personal emotion and observations of society, particularly women’s lives, with elements drawn from miniature painting and Indian folk traditions. Her compositions could unfold like stories while bringing many images into a deliberately subversive arrangement; she described her artistic approach as an expedition without a destination. In 1962, she married fellow artist Paramjit Singh. Their daughter, Anjum Singh, also became an artist. Arpita Singh received the Padma Bhushan and the Kalidas Samman. Her work drew on her background and the social world around her, while incorporating traditional forms into a modernist practice.