Mother’s Day: Gifts for the Ones Who First Held Us

by P Abigail Sadhana Rao

Some gifts last for a moment. Others stay with us for years, quietly becoming part of a home, a memory, or an emotion we return to again and again.

Mother’s Day is often celebrated through flowers, letters, and gestures of gratitude, but art offers something uniquely enduring. A painting can hold warmth, tenderness, resilience, and love in ways words sometimes cannot. It becomes more than a decorative object. It becomes a reminder of presence, care, and emotional connection.

This Mother’s Day, we explore artworks on Mojarto that reflect the many dimensions of motherhood through moments of protection, companionship, learning, memory, and quiet strength. Thoughtful and deeply personal, these paintings make meaningful gifts for the women who shaped our earliest understanding of comfort, belonging, and love.

The First Lessons of Love and Learning

In Haate Khori হাতেখড়ি, Sumon Naskar beautifully captures the tenderness of a child’s first introduction to learning through the Bengali ritual of Hate Khori. Seated closely beside her mother beneath the presence of Goddess Saraswati, the child begins writing her first letters, transforming education into an act of care, guidance, and cultural inheritance. The painting carries a deep sense of intimacy, where motherhood becomes not only nurturing and protective, but also a bridge between tradition, knowledge, and identity. Through warm tones, graceful lines, and intricate detailing inspired by Bengali visual culture, the artwork honours the quiet yet profound role mothers play in shaping a child’s earliest understanding of the world.

Rooted in Care and Continuity

Surrounded by cattle, birds, and open expanses of colour, Motherhood is portrayed by artist Sunita Dinda in this artwork Mother & Child 2, reflecting companionship, resilience, and everyday rural life. The daughter walks closely beside her mother, suggesting trust, learning, and generational closeness. Rather than portraying motherhood as sentimental, the painting presents it as something lived through every day. Dinda’s visual language is filled with energy and warmth.

Bright hues, decorative detailing, and expressive outlines that bring a celebratory affect to the composition while remaining rooted in the simplicity of village life. Influenced by Indian folk traditions and expressionist styles, the artwork reflects both cultural identity and emotional connection. The mother becomes not only a caregiver but a figure of endurance and continuity, carrying tradition, protection, and memory forward through generations.

Tenderness of Everyday Presence 

In this evocative limited edition serigraph by master artist Thota Vaikuntam, motherhood is expressed through gesture, closeness, and quiet attention. The subjects, mother and child, mirror one another with raised hands and steady gazes, creating an intimate exchange that feels both playful and deeply emotional.

Vaikuntam’s bold colours, stylised forms, and traditional adornments lend the figures a sculptural presence, while the rich blue drape surrounding the mother evokes warmth, protection, and grounding. What makes this painting especially resonant is its ability to transform an everyday moment into something timeless. The artwork becomes a reflection of care, memory, and the emotional bonds that continue to shape us long after childhood.

A Moment Held in Music

This emotionally layered work, Mother and Child by artist Ramesh P. Gujar, explores the bond between mother and child that unfolds through stillness, sound, and shared closeness. As the mother plays the flute, the child leans gently into her presence, creating a scene that feels both intimate and meditative.

Rendered in oil and acrylic on canvas, the artwork balances warmth and introspection through its striking palette of deep reds, muted whites, and earthy tones. Gujar’s stylised figures and fluid lines move beyond realism, capturing the emotional atmosphere of motherhood. The painting feels less like a narrative moment and more like an enduring memory, where tenderness and companionship exist in complete harmony.

Like a Tree in Bloom

The relationship between mother and child unfolds like an extension of nature itself in this richly symbolic work by artist Paltu Ghosh. Intertwined within leaves, vines, birds, and flowing organic forms, the figures appear rooted together like a growing tree, suggesting nurture, protection, emotional interdependence, and quiet continuity. Their embrace feels inseparable from the surrounding landscape as well, as though love itself has taken root and blossomed into the natural world around them.

Birds and delicate foliage in the artwork further deepen this sense of harmony, evoking ideas of growth, freedom, and care that continue through generations and generations to come. The mother figure depicted in the painting becomes not only a source of comfort and shelter but also a grounding force from which love, memory, and connection continue to flourish. Ghosh’s layered colours and richly textured surfaces create a dreamlike atmosphere where motherhood becomes both intimate and universal.

Artworks That Carry the Warmth of Home

There are those artworks that simply decorate a space. Others hold emotion, memory, and presence long after they are first seen. Paintings centred around motherhood carry a rare kind of intimacy, making them thoughtful gifts that continue to resonate over time.

This Mother’s Day, discover contemporary artworks that celebrate care, connection, and the quiet beauty of being held on Mojarto. Explore meaningful pieces that honour the women who shaped our earliest understanding of love and belonging.