The Shift from Form to Abstraction Shimla, India, 1924. A large middle-class family of eight brothers and sisters gathers in the capital of Himachal Pradesh. Among them is Ram Kumar Verma. His path toward the canvas begins not in a studio, but through a chance encounter in 1945. While loitering around Connaught Place with friends from St. Stephen's College, he stumbles upon an art exhibition. The sight of the paintings creates an immediate, intense intrigue. He returns several times. By 1948, he abandons a stable position at a bank to pursue art seriously, enrolling at the Sharda Ukil School…