Yesterday, walking into La Galerie at Alliance Française de Dhaka felt less like entering an art gallery and more like stepping into a garden.
Flowers and plants seemed to fill the space from every corner. You cannot smell them, of course, but the paintings make them feel close enough to touch — and perhaps even closer to the heart.
This is the world contemporary painter Suborno Chakraborty Tonmoy has created through his first solo exhibition, ‘Splendor of Green’. Curated by Sumon Wahed, the exhibition is on display until 29 September.
Tonmoy’s paintings focus on leaves, flowers and plants, capturing their colours, structures and delicate details with remarkable realism. His watercolours and paintings make familiar pieces of nature appear almost alive.
The artist says his connection with nature deepened during the COVID-19 pandemic. When people were confined to their homes and human interaction became difficult, nature became one of the few ways to feel connected to the world outside.
“That’s when I found my muse,” Tonmoy says.
Many of the works in the exhibition come from plants he observed closely over the years. Some were inspired by the plants on his mother’s balcony, while others came from his hometown of Sherpur and the surroundings of his hall at Dhaka University.
Tonmoy spends hours observing flowers before painting them. For him, the process is more than an artistic exercise. It has become a form of therapy, a quiet way of looking, feeling and reconnecting with nature.
The series developed between 2020 and 2026, gradually turning years of observation into a body of work.
Rather than seeing green as one colour, Tonmoy explores its many shades and subtle changes through different combinations of pigments.
‘Splendor of Green’ ultimately invites viewers to slow down and notice what often goes unnoticed.
Through Tonmoy’s eyes, ordinary leaves and flowers become intimate portraits of nature, memory and healing.
