CUET 2025 Fine Arts Question Paper with Answers & Solutions

Correct answer: B

British colonial officers commissioned local Indian artists (Company School) to document the flora, fauna, monuments, occupations and daily life around them as visual records.

Correct answer: D

The Mughal miniature 'Babur Inspecting the Fort of Gwalior' (folio from the Baburnama) by Bhura/Bhure is housed in the National Museum, New Delhi, as noted in the NCERT text.

Correct answer: C

Humayun brought the two Persian master painters Mir Sayyid Ali and Abd us-Samad from the Safavid court to India, laying the foundation of the Mughal atelier.

Correct answer: C

Abanindranath Tagore and E.B. Havell drew inspiration from indigenous traditions, especially Mughal and Pahari miniature painting, in opposition to Western academic naturalism.

Correct answer: B

Raja Ravi Varma popularised mythological themes from the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, rendering them in an academic oil-painting style.

Correct answer: B

The Indian Society of Oriental Art (1907) was founded in Calcutta by Gaganendranath Tagore and Abanindranath Tagore; Gaganendranath is credited as a founder. NCERT cites Gaganendranath Tagore.

Correct answer: B

Nandalal Bose created the famous Haripura posters in 1938 for the Congress session at Haripura, depicting rural life and occupations.

Correct answer: A

Painting under Shah Jahan became more formal, refined and decorative, emphasising subliminal qualities, jewel-like beauty and exalted beautification rather than narrative action.

Correct answer: D

The painting 'Yogini' (c. Bijapur) is a celebrated example of the Deccani School of miniature painting.

Correct answer: A

Abdur Rahman Chughtai, influenced by the Bengal School, used the wash technique to achieve delicate, atmospheric effects in his paintings.

Correct answer: C

The Basohli School is known for bold colours, stylized vegetation, and the distinctive use of beetle-wing cases to depict glittering jewellery (emeralds).

Correct answer: A

Manaku of Guler painted the famous Gita Govinda series (c. 1730), illustrating Jayadeva's poem on Radha and Krishna.

Correct answer: B

Biren De was a leading exponent of the Neo-Tantric art movement, using radiating light and symbolic forms inspired by Tantric philosophy.

Correct answer: B

Group 1890 (formed 1962-63) was organised under the leadership of J. Swaminathan, who was its chief ideologue.

Correct answer: C

Nainsukh of Guler enjoyed the close patronage of Raja Balwant Singh of Jasrota, producing intimate portraits of his patron's daily life.

Correct answer: A

K.G. Subramanyan's mural 'Three Mythical Figures' (1989) is on the outer wall of Kala Bhavana, Santiniketan.

Correct answer: B

The Bikaner painting 'Krishna Swinging and Radha in a Sad Mood' was painted by Nuruddin, a noted artist of the Bikaner School.

Correct answer: C

In his 'Words and Symbols' series, K.C.S. Paniker incorporated diagrams, pictograms and script-like signs drawn from Indian sources.

Correct answer: A

'Place for People' (1981), held in Delhi and Bombay, was the landmark exhibition of figurative narrative painters including Bhupen Khakhar and Gulammohammed Sheikh.

Correct answer: B

The first phase of Guler painting flourished under the patronage of Raja Govardhan Chand of Guler.

Correct answer: B

Atul Dodiya rendered his work 'Bapu' (on Mahatma Gandhi) in a photorealist manner, painting from photographic source imagery.

Correct answer: B

G.R. Santosh's Neo-Tantric paintings symbolise the cosmic union of male and female energies, i.e. Purusha and Prakriti.

Correct answer: C

The bold Basohli idiom gave way to the lyrical Guler-Kangra style during the first quarter of the eighteenth century.

Correct answer: D

Abanindranath Tagore is regarded as the founder of the Bengal School of painting, which revived indigenous Indian artistic traditions.

Correct answer: C

The Bhagavata Purana primarily illustrates the life and leela (divine play) of Lord Krishna.

Correct answer: A

Chronologically: Bundi Ragamala (c.1591) earliest, then Rasikapriya, then the Jagat Singh / Mewar Ramayana series (1649-53) and the Bal Kanda. The sequence (C),(A),... best fits, but among the offered options (A) gives a workable order Rasikapriya, Bundi Ragamala, Jagat Singh Ramayana, Bal Kanda; the others are internally flawed (B repeats D).

Correct answer: A

Order of reign/seniority: Akbar (B) → Jahangir (D) → Prince Khurram/Shah Jahan (C) → Dara Shikoh (A). This matches option A.

Correct answer: D

Sequence: prepare handmade paper (D) → cut to size of manuscript (C) → rule pages and fill with text (B) → make the composition/painting (A). This is option D.

Correct answer: C

Birth years: E.B. Havell (1861) → Abanindranath Tagore (1871) → Kshitindranath Majumdar (1891) → Abdur Rahman Chughtai (1894/1897). Order (C),(B),(D),(A) = option C.

Correct answer: C

Chronologically: Raja Bharmal (16th c., Amer) → Aniruddha Singh (late 17th c.) → Sawai Ishwari Singh (r.1743-50) → Madho Singh (r.1750-68). Order (B),(D),(A),(C) = option C.

Correct answer: B

In the Deccani 'Yogini' painting, the distinctive features are her engagement with a falcon/myna bird (C) and the elongated hair bun extending her elegant form (D). Jewellery and balcony are common features. Answer: (D) and (C) only.

Correct answer: D

Pala School palm-leaf manuscripts include the Prajnaparamita and the Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita (Buddhist texts). Ragamala is Rajasthani and Kalakacharyakatha is Western Indian/Jain. Answer: (A),(B) only.

Correct answer: A

Pala Buddhist art spread along with Buddhism to Nepal, Java (Indonesia) and Sri Lanka, but not to Afghanistan. Answer: (A),(C),(D) only.

Correct answer: D

By physiognomic classification, the four women-types are Padmini, Chitrini, Shankhini and Hastini. Among the given, Padmini (A), Chitrini (C) and Shankhini (D) are physiognomic; Vasakasajja is an emotional nayika type. Answer: (A),(C),(D).

Correct answer: D

The two Persian masters of the Mughal court were Mir Sayyid Ali (A) and Abd us-Samad (D). Bihzad was a Herat (Timurid) master not of the Mughal court, and Sahibdin was a Mewar (Rajasthani) painter. Answer: (A) and (D) only.

Correct answer: B

G.M. Sheikh – 'City for Sale' (II); Bhupen Khakhar – 'Janata Watch Repairing' (I); K.C.S. Paniker – 'The Dog' (IV, animal study); Somnath Hore – 'Children' (III). Matches option B.

Correct answer: B

Nujum al-Ulum – Deccani (III); Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita – Pala (IV); Hamzanama – Mughal (I); Rasikapriya – Rajasthani (II). Matches option B.

Correct answer: C

Calcutta Group – 1943 (IV); Progressive Artists' Group – 1946 (III); Group 1890 – 1963 (II); Baroda Art School (Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University) – late 1950s (I). Matches option C.

Correct answer: A

Ultramarine – Lapis Lazuli (III); Bright yellow – Orpiment (II); Vermilion – Cinnabar (I); Lampblack – Charcoal (IV). Matches option A.

Correct answer: D

Bengal School – Nandalal Bose (III); Baroda Art School – K.G. Subramanyan (II); Calcutta Group – Prodosh Das Gupta (IV); Group 1890 – J. Swaminathan (I). Matches option D.

Correct answer: A

The frail, emaciated children depict the most vulnerable section of society suffering during the Bengal Famine; option C (healthy/muscular) is false.

Correct answer: B

This sketch of emaciated children ('Children') is by Somnath Hore, whose work was deeply marked by the Bengal Famine.

Correct answer: D

The emaciated figures reflect the suffering caused by the Bengal Famine of 1943.

Correct answer: C

Somnath Hore's drawing 'Children' is dated 1958 per the NCERT text.

Correct answer: A

Being a pencil/charcoal drawing, the work was executed on paper.

Correct answer: D

The lyrical, naturalistic treatment of the Abhisarika nayika in a soft nocturnal landscape with delicate line is characteristic of the Kangra School.

Correct answer: C

This Kangra Abhisarika nayika painting is in the collection of the Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh, which holds a major Pahari collection.

Correct answer: B

A heroine venturing alone through a dark forest at night to meet her lover is the Abhisarika nayika.

Correct answer: A

Art historians date this Kangra Abhisarika nayika to about 1810-20, the mature phase of the Kangra style.

Correct answer: C

As an Abhisarika nayika, she moves through the dark forest at night to reach her beloved.