MANAMA, Bahrain: Mumbai’s Art Deco buildings — believed to be the world’s second largest collection after Miami — were added on Saturday to UNESCO’s World Heritage List alongside the city’s better-known Victorian Gothic architecture.
A not-for-profit team of enthusiasts are in the process of documenting every single one but they estimate there may be more than 200 across India’s bustling financial capital.
The majority of them, built on reclaimed land between the early 1930s and early 1950s, are clustered together in the south of the coastal city where they stand in stark contrast to Victorian Gothic structures.
The two vastly different architectural traditions face off against each other across the popular Oval Maidan playing field, where enthusiastic young cricketers hone their skills.
On one side lie imposing and rather austere 19th century buildings housing the Bombay High Court and Mumbai University, with their spires and lancet windows.
On the other side stand sleeker buildings boasting curved corners, balconies, vertical lines and exotic motifs.
They were built by wealthy Indians who sent their architects to Europe to come up with modern designs different to those of their colonial rulers.
“Mumbai’s Deco buildings have always lived in the shadow of the Victorian Gothic structures built by the British,” Atul Kumar, the founder of Art Deco Mumbai, told AFP last year.
“But Art Deco is no less. It’s a colorful, vibrant, free, sophisticated style that represented the aspirations of a whole new class.
“India was under oppressive colonial rule and this was a very unique statement through architecture,” he added.
Mumbai’s Art Deco buildings house residential properties, commercial offices, hospitals and single screen movie theaters, including the popular Regal and Eros cinemas.
Their characteristics include elegant Deco fonts, marble floors and spiral staircases.
Most of the Art Deco buildings, including along the three-kilometer long palm-fringed Marine Drive promenade, are five stories high and painted in bright colors such as yellow, pink and blue.
Mumbai’s Victorian Gothic and Art Deco buildings win UNESCO status
Mumbai’s Victorian Gothic and Art Deco buildings win UNESCO status
In the light of Andalusia: Luis Olaso’s new body of work
- Luis Olaso transforms Andalusian landscapes and light into abstract art, creating canvases that reflect culture, nature, and the artist’s inner state
- Each work in ‘Photosynthesis’ acts as a sensory and meditative portrait — an immersion into the Andalusian experience and the artist’s emotional universe
DUBAI: Spanish artist Luis Olaso is presenting “Photosynthesis,” his new exhibition, until March 9 at the JD Malat Gallery in Downtown Dubai. The series marks a turning point in his career, born from his recent move to Cadiz, in Andalusia, where the sun, light, and Mediterranean landscapes have profoundly transformed his practice.
For Olaso, relocating to southern Spain was not merely a change of scenery but an immersion into a culture and environment that nourishes his art at every moment.
“It’s very important for me because this is the first exhibition I have created in my new studio … I built it in the middle of the garden, surrounded by nature, fruit trees and olive trees, with a fantastic landscape. The influence of Andalusia and the colors of that place are the driving force behind my work,” said Olaso.
Located at the heart of an estate surrounded by olive, almond, and orange trees, his studio is designed to allow nature to enter the creative process both physically and psychologically. Yet, rather than depicting these elements directly, Olaso absorbs them as a sensory catalyst: Each color, texture, and gesture becomes the expression of a lived moment.
“Even when I work with plants or flowers, I’m not aiming for literal representation; they are vehicles to express abstract metaphors of myself and the moment I’m living while creating the work,” he said.
His artistic process is both spontaneous and meditative. Olaso often works on several canvases simultaneously to free himself from the pressure of the “perfect painting,” allowing intuition to guide his brush. Music — the Spanish band Triana and 1970s psychedelic flamenco — plays a central role in his focus and inner connection.
“Painting, for me, is similar to meditation. I need to be in that precise moment and feel connected with myself,” said Olaso.
“Photosynthesis” also reflects a profound cultural and artistic dialogue. The artist’s work draws from Spanish tradition— with references to Antoni Tapies and Manolo Millares — as well as major international abstract movements, including American gestural abstraction and the San Francisco Bay Area Figurative Movement.
This meeting point between abstraction, culture, and emotion transforms each canvas into a portrait of a lived instant and the artist’s inner state.
After Dubai, Olaso is expected to present a solo exhibition in Madrid in March 2026, followed by another solo exhibition in Helsinki in April. An art fair is scheduled for September, with additional fairs planned throughout the year, notably with the JD Malat Gallery.
These milestones illustrate his universal approach to art, deeply rooted in a specific cultural context: the light, color, and sensory memory of Andalusia. With “Photosynthesis,” the artist offers viewers an experience in which painting becomes a mirror of the self, an emotional journey, and an encounter with a singular place.
