About Warli Art

Warli folk paintings are the painting of Maharashtra. Warli is the name of the largest tribe found on the northern outskirts of Mumbai, in Western India. The word “ Warli” comes from “warla” which means a piece of land or a field Despite being in such close proximity of the largest metropolis in India, Warli tribesmen are still not urban. Warli is the vivid expression of daily and social events of the Warli tribe, used by them to decorate the walls of village houses. This was the only means of transmitting folklore to a others who are not acquainted with the written word.

Images of human beings and animals, along with scenes from daily life are created in a rhythmic pattern. Painted white on mud walls and usually depict scenes of human figures engaged in activities like hunting, dancing, sowing, harvesting,drawing water from well, drying clothes even dancing.

The typical subjects on which Warli Art is done are :

Festival

Harvest

Folk story

Celebration

Marriage 

The major highlight is these all have people in group depicting the social life.It basically consists of geometrical patterns

•Circle: representing the sun and the moon

•Triangle: triangle derived from mountains and pointed trees

•Square: indicating a sacred enclosure or a piece of land. So the central motive in each ritual painting is the square

These geometric figures are joined together to form beautiful patterns .Like two apex of triangles are joined together to form a human figure.Typically Warlis are simply painted on mud, charcoal and cow dung treated surfaces with rice paste for the color white.But now people have adapted in modern form which consists of permanent and vibrant colors.