26/04/2026
Shri Raghu Rai (1942–2026).
India has lost one of its greatest visual storytellers.
Shri Raghu Rai, the legendary photographer whose images helped define the visual memory of modern India, passed away today. His work did not merely document a nation — it revealed its soul.
Rai began his journey under the guidance of Henri Cartier-Bresson, assisting him during his travels in India. Recognising a rare eye and an instinctive understanding of human presence, Cartier-Bresson later nominated the young photojournalist to join Magnum Photos — "a decisive moment" that would shape the trajectory of Rai’s career and place him among the most influential photographers of his generation.
From the streets of Delhi to the ghats of Banaras, Raghu Rai returned again and again to the places that spoke to him most deeply. In Varanasi, in particular, he created some of his most enduring images — photographs that transcend documentation and enter the realm of the timeless. His work captured not only moments, but the invisible threads of culture, faith, and everyday life that bind a civilisation together.
He carried forward the legacy of Cartier-Bresson, yet transformed it. Where his mentor revealed the decisive moment, Rai expanded it — infusing it with a distinctly Indian sensibility, layering time, emotion, and narrative into each frame. He did not imitate; he evolved.
His books remain essential. For generations of photographers in India and beyond, they are not only references but companions — works to return to, again and again, each time discovering something new.
Seventeen years ago, I had the privilege of exhibiting my work at Gallery ZazaSpace in New Delhi, where Raghu Rai was the guest of honour. The exhibition supported Art for Prabhat, an initiative dedicated to the rehabilitation and self-sustenance of mentally challenged children in India. That he was present remains one of the great honours of my life.
Henri Cartier-Bresson has always been my absolute master in photography. To find myself, even briefly, connected to that lineage through Raghu Rai was profoundly meaningful.
More recently, the Ambassador of India remarked that my work followed in Cartier-Bresson and Rai’s footsteps. In that moment, everything seemed to align. Raghu Rai became, in a sense, the bridge — between influences, between generations, between ways of seeing.
His passing leaves a void that cannot be filled. Yet his work endures — alive, generous, and inexhaustible.
Some photographers capture images.
Others shape the way we see.
Raghu Rai did both.
I feel immense gratitude that our paths crossed, however briefly.
Thank you for showing the way.
Your vision will continue to guide us.
