Welcome to the wonderful world of Indian contemporary art. This gallery has existed for over seventy years and will go on for another hundred years or more. As the gallery celebrates 70 years of successfully promoting Indian contemporary art a lot of activities are planned to make our contribution to the society which has lent us unparallel support enabling us to promote Indian contemporary art over seventy year and over three generation.

Sh. Ram Babu Jain established Dhoomimal Gallery in the year 1936. Sh Jain an art lover was primarily into the printing and publishing business. His appreciation for art over the years brought him into contact with some of the leading artists of the period. This led to the birth of the Dhoomimal Gallery at Connaught Place. The gallery made its beginnings by displaying the works of well-known painters of yesteryears like late Sailoz Mukherjea and Jamini Roy. The gallery soon became a hub for contemporary art as well as a meeting place for the capital's artists.

In the late thirties Dhoomimal establishment came to support "Kalakar" a forum for the art minded individuals of the capital who organized musical evenings and sponsored art exhibitions. Shri Jain also initiated publication of monographs on some of the well-known artists of the country like Abdur Rahman Chugtai, Jamini Roy, Sailoz Mukherjea and others. This brought light to the otherwise yet obscure art world. However, it was the forties when the Dhoomimal Gallery acquired an all India focus .The Gallery thus became an institution that ensured the country's artists a place under the sun.

After the untimely demise of Shri Ram Chand Jain, the leadership of the gallery passed in to the hands of his son Shri Ravi Jain who had just returned from America where he was involved with Indian art. The gallery under his leadership was rejuvenated and in the 70's, the Gallery entered its most active and glorious phase, by coming in close proximity and having regular exhibition of artists such as M.F.Hussain, J.Swaminathan, Shanti Dave, F.N.Souza, H.A.Gasde, Krishen Khanna among a host of others. Mr Ravi Jain and J.Swaminathan were considered as one of the best artist-dealer team and played, arguably the most influential role in making Indian contemporary art popular on a country wide basis.

Even today the Dhoomimal Collection has the best private collection of art works of stalwarts such as F.N.Souza, J.Swaminathan, H.A.Gade, Bimal Das Gupta, Jamini Roy, Sailoz Mookherjea, Anjolie Ela Menon, Krishen Khanna among many others.

The gallery today under the leadership of Mr Uday Jain and his mother Ms Uma Jain is forbearer of the fast growth of the Indian art market not only in India but Globally too. Under the banner of "Ravi Jain Memorial Trust" the gallery continues to promote art and artists including offering scholarships to the young and upcoming artists. Many of these young artists such as Hemraj, G.R.Iranna, Somnath Singh, M.S.C.Satya Sai are today big names in the contemporary art world.

The Gallery in close interlocution with the art critics and the connoisseurs devised new plans for the Dhoomimal Art Complex as more gallery space was available and the art scene in country and the capital was picking up. Dhoomimal's new Mega Art Complex with approx. 5000sq.ft. at G-42, Connaught Circus comprising Ravi Jain Center for International Arts, Sculpture Court, Art Museum a place to browse about new art than just a sale counter, and a Cultural Center opened it's doors on September 16th'2003. This addition has probably made Dhoomimal Gallery the largest art complex in the country.

We at Dhoomimal aim at promoting Indian art as a whole than merely selling paintings. The art scenario has changed a lot over the past few years. Today art is increasingly being seen as an investment rather than something which would grace the walls of your house and be with you for a lifetime. The art scene has now entered what can be described as a maturity phase. Through 2003-2006 the art market saw an unprecedented growth with prices in certain cases rising over 300% which in a way plateau out in 2007. There were fears that art market might not be able to keep up with the sudden rise however the growth till now was incidental and people were buying more on adrenaline than on knowledge. However this is rapidly changing and 2008 has shown that the collectors now are more aware of their purchases and the market is once again seeing a rise. This is evident as at a recent Christies art auction in London, A Painting titled Birth By F.N.Souza sold for over 11cr Rs which is the highest price ever recorded for an Indian art work. Dhoomimal Gallery boasts of having the finest collection of F.N.Souza who was one of the closest artists associated with the gallery for close to five decades.

Our suggestion at Dhommimal is that buy what is a good investment but more importantly buy something that you like. A painting is something that you would look at everyday of your life in your house. It is something that will grow on you. Hence it is no use buying something that you do not even want to look at but is going up in course of time.