Paresh Maity was born in Tamluk, a suburban town near the Bay of Bengal who has been a prolific painter in a short career span with a unique place in the Indian art scene who was often referred to as the “William Turner of India”. There is the unmistakable ‘soulfulness’ of mood and memory, sweep and slash of colours and the transparent depth of his watercolor that makes Maity’s artistry a wonderful coalescence of art and thought. He weaves into his psychological stream the many faces of nature — the colours of the sea and the pitter-patter of raindrops. Nature has always been a part of his psyche and surroundings. Throughout Paresh’s childhood, nature was omnipresent. He lived in a time where one had to become either an engineer or a doctor. Nevertheless, he went to Kolkata then to Delhi to pursue art but lacking the financial capacity to enroll in the College of Art, he went back to Kolkata. Here is where he had the glimpse of the works of the Western masters such as Rembrandt, Turner, Constable, Winslow Homer to name a few at the Victoria Memorial Hall which he used to visit. Seeing their works sparked in him the desire to be like them; he wanted to be known as a hardworking artist. In awe of Rembrandt’s way of using light, he tried to capture his method and simultaneously admired the impressionists, the cubist phase of Picasso but considered Rembrandt, Homer and Turner to be his favorites. He traveled all over India, and anywhere he went, he painted nature but felt that his understanding of it was never enough. At the onset of the 90s, figures started to appear in his works as opposed to the traditional landscapes from his early years. Figures of men and women, animals and birds became part of his watercolour, a medium which he had come to master. Paresh despised the harsh side of life which reflected in his paintings which are all soft and soothing.