Divine Flame by S. L. Haldankar has long been one of my favourite paintings. There’s such quiet beauty in its simplicity — a woman holding a small oil lamp, her face softly illuminated by its golden glow. Painted in a delicate realist style, it feels both lifelike and spiritual, as though the light itself holds a kind of calm reverence. Nothing feels overdone or staged; it’s just a moment of stillness, perfectly captured. I love how Haldankar manages to turn something so ordinary into something deeply serene and graceful — it’s a reminder that beauty often lives in the simplest of things.
Haldankar painted Divine Flame around 1908–1910, reportedly using his daughter, Gita, as the model. The work, created during Diwali, captures the warm intimacy of the festival’s light. Today, it’s housed in the Jaganmohan Palace Art Gallery in Mysore,India.
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