Gopal Ghosh’s earliest training in art was in Jaipur under Sailendranath Dey in the Maharaja School of Arts and Crafts (1931-35). From here, he went to study further under Debi Prosad Roy Chowdhury in the Madras Government School of Arts. As one of the founder members of the Calcutta group (1943), he came in close proximity to the communists in Bengal with the overcast of famine in Bengal. This was partly reflected in his art. His paintings are characterised by quick calligraphic lines and bright, warm imaginary colours. Working with water colour, tempera, mixed and pastel mediums his preference was for figuration to abstraction. But he never followed Western Academism. Instead his inspiration can be traced in classical Chinese (in the rendering of ink and brushwork) and Western Impressionism in the application of colour.