As India’s National Academy of Art, the Lalit Kala Akademi, ever since its inception, has been pioneering the many paths of Indian contemporary art, through its chosen agenda. The institution has been involved in identifying and showcasing visual art. The LKA has become a keeper of the historicity of Indian art and its interaction with the contemporary art practices worldwide.

In post Independence India, teaching of modern art education, preservation and promotion of arts of different varieties ranging from tribal to classical were taken up as most important art activities of several institutions. For the sixty years, this institution has been organising annual exhibitions and making purchases of award winning artworks for its collection. In course of time the collection grew when the Akademi in addition to Annual Exhibition added works from the Art Fair (Kala Mela), Workshops/Camps, Artists Aid Fund (AAF) and Chairman’s Discretionary Funds to help needy artists. Akademi has been able to collect works from several regions in the country. The Akademi has preserved a collection over six thousand artworks from different sources. The accessed collections include paintings, sculptures and graphics.

The Akademi’s magnificent collection presents a synoptic history of Indian art over the past sixty years. It comprises of works of eminent artists and masters of Indian Contemporary Art like, M. F. Husain, F. N. Souza, S. H. Raza, Tyeb Mehta, G. R. Santosh, K. K. Hebbar, V. S. Gaitonde, Dhanraj Bhagat, Dhruv Mistry and many others.

Recently Akademi has developed its conservation wing for the preservation and restoration of the artworks as per International standards.