Howard Hodgkin in India: 'Looking for Something Else'

In conjunction with a major exhibition of his works in Mumbai, we visited the British artist at his studio. He discussed childhood ambitions, the ’very lonely’ world of the painter, and the subcontinent’s enduring influence on his practice
‘I spent my first night in India asleep on a bedding roll on the station platform,’ recalls artist Howard Hodgkin, who, in 1964, arrived in what was then known as Bombay Central station. The city would become integral to Hodgkin’s work, as a source of inspiration and, later, as a place where he would paint and exhibit.