Ranu Mukherjee (art patron)
Lady Ranu Mukherjee was an Indian patron of the arts. She was associated with Rabindranath Tagore during the later years of his life and established the Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata.
Early life
Born as Priti Adhikary, Ranu Mukherjee's ancestral home was in Tungi village in the Nadia of British Bengal. She was born on 18 October 1907, in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.Relationship with Tagore
By the age of 11, Ranu had read a collection of Tagore's short stories. She was a student at the Theosophical School in Kashi.In 1918, Tagore invited Ranu's father to work with Kshitimohan Sen at Shantiniketan's Vidya Bhavana. Ranu’s elder sister, Asha Aryanayakam, and her husband were already living at the Shantiniketan Ashrama. Having read Tagore's works—such as Gora, Noukadubi, Chinnapatra, and Dakghar—Ranu also moved there. During her time at Shantiniketan, she was mentored by renowned artists Nandalal Bose and Surendranath Kar.
She developed a close relationship with Tagore, having previously exchanged letters with him from Varanasi as an avid reader of his works. She affectionately called him “Bhanudada,” a name inspired by Tagore's pseudonym Bhanusingha, used for his poems in Bhanusingha Thakurer Padabali. Sources suggest that this relationship blossomed at a time when Tagore was grieving the loss of his daughter Madhurilata and managing financial concerns for Santiniketan.
Some sources describe Ranu as a source of inspiration for Tagore, drawing comparisons to his earlier muse, Kadambari Devi. Their relationship—documented in 208 letters from Tagore to Ranu and 68 letters from Ranu to Tagore—was reportedly misunderstood by some at the time. The letters reveal the significant influence Ranu, then only 12 years old, had on Tagore. She also accompanied him on various travels, including a trip to Shillong, where he composed Shesher Kobita.
In 1920, when Tagore’s play Bisarjan was staged at the Empire Hall, Tagore played the role of Jayasingha while Ranu Mukherjee portrayed Aparna.