The Slow Burn of Waiting in Sher-Gil
Sumair: Waiting is a treacherous activity. It starts with joy and excitement, fills one with tremendous hope and endless scenarios that work in their favour. It gently holds the person’s hand and takes them far away from reality to a place where their wait gives a fruitful result.
The anticipation manifests in their body in the form of restlessness and waves of anxiety that lead to loss of sleep and appetite and the person ends up just waiting. Wait demands for no other activity to have any place in the person’s life. It slowly eats the person up from inside and leaves them hollow. Even this empty vessel of a person feels overwhelmed with constant hope of something happening.
What happens if this build up of a long wait results in nothing? Does the person experience a burst of anger? Or do they fall to the ground with the weight of dead hope filled inside their body pulling them down? How does one look? How does one feel? Is there anything in the world that prepares them for the nothing that comes after the wait?
Sumair
Lost in deep thought with dead eyes looking into the void, piercing the floor, shoulders rolled down in what appears to be hopelessness with her hands lying lifeless on her lap sits Sumair, the subject of the painting and also the cousin of Amrita Sher-Gil. In a green saree with a red border and heavy jewellery that does not seem to give life to her face and posture.
She is dressed beautifully, her makeup looks attractive with her pink cheeks and a blend of red-brown lip that goes perfectly with her wonderful complexion along with her hair neatly tied in a bun. However, her face tells a different story. A story perhaps one would be able to form around the idea of the act of waiting.
Breaking down the colours
Heavily inspired by the works of the French artist Paul Gauguin, Sher-Gil uses earthy tones for her paintings that add much depth and gravity to her works by highlighting the aspect of human emotions which this particular painting focuses on. Sumair’s saree is of green colour that usually indicates calm and harmony, but in this painting it does not evoke any of those emotions within the viewer. It rather brings out a sense of melancholy and distress that reflects on her face. There is also some red around the borders of her saree that could indicate multiple things including love, passion or even anger.
However, Sumair does not appear to be angry, she looks rather helpless. Her eyes strangely reveal denial and acceptance at the same time. There are pink flower like pattern down her shoulder on the arm that is similar to the flower she holds, the pink that also radiates on her cheeks that should have showcased her shyness but rather indicates the fragility of her emotions that might turn into a burst of loud sadness any time, much like the loosely held flower that can drop at any point.
Her background matches with her attire – a mix of green, brown and black that further highlights her hopeless state. With this, Sher-Gil brings both the background and Sumair together to express utter despair.
The possible grief of love / shattered hope (?)
Sumair sits pensive in her chair. The gravity of her heavy emotions pulls her shoulders down and her face looks numb. She holds a couple of pink flowers perhaps to give to someone. However, this does not bring any joy to her face. They were possibly for a lover, who failed to arrive – whom she had hoped to see after a long time. The sheer despair in her eyes does not show anticipation, but rather an inexplicable disappointment that comes after it. Her drooped shoulders and frail hands could suggest the overwhelming sadness taking over her body that comes after a long bittersweet wait which results in nothing.
Sumair seems to have tasted the sweetness of anticipation that now there is nothing more to expect. One can see it on her face that the excitement is long gone, even what comes after the joy of wait is over. Her body shows no restlessness, instead it appears as if something in her has dropped, forcefully let go of itself, leaving Sumair in a state of numbness. The only thing that looks alive in the painting are the flowers in her hand. Who knows how long they will survive.
The sorrow is evident, captured beautifully in the contrast of her vibrant cheeks, that signify the joy of getting ready for a sweet rendez-vous and her dead eyes, that show the realisation of a murdered hope. Amrita Sher-Gil brings out a blend of multiple emotions through this painting, opening it to several interpretations that explore the many battles of a young, hopeful individual whose grip gets loosened by the bitter surprises that drag them back to reality and result in an ultimate and unfortunate fall.
Your writing has a rare gift, the ability to capture the quiet ache of waiting, not as a pause in time, but as an entire landscape of emotions. In your words, longing breathes, silence speaks, and anticipation feels almost alive. You portray what most people struggle even to articulate that waiting is not emptiness, but a journey through hope, uncertainty, and the soft tremble of what the heart yearns for.
The grace with which you translate these fragile human emotions into language shows both sensitivity and depth — the mark of a storyteller who doesn’t just write, but makes her readers feel. Keep nurturing this gift. It’s not just your command over words that stands out, but your understanding of what lies between them.
Your craft is already touching, relatable, and deeply human — and it is only the beginning of a beautiful writing journey. Keep writing. The world needs more voices that feel as much as they express.
Thank you very much! it means a lot. thank you :))