10 Day Bhutan Contemporary Art and Culture Tour: Studios, Galleries and Living Traditions

For centuries almost all art in Bhutan was religious. Painters made thangkas and temple murals, carvers made masks and altars, and every line followed rules handed down from master to student. That tradition is still strong, and you will see it in every dzong. But over the last thirty years a new generation of Bhutanese artists has started to paint, photograph, film and write about their own lives: the changes in Thimphu, the pull between village and city, the arrival of television and the internet, and what it means to be Bhutanese today.

This 10 day tour introduces you to both worlds. In Thimphu you visit artist-run studios and small galleries, where young painters mix Buddhist imagery with modern styles, and you meet working artists to talk about their ideas. You visit the National Institute for Zorig Chusum, where students learn the traditional rules, and see how some graduates later break them. You learn about Bhutan’s film industry, which drew world attention in 2022 when Pawo Choyning Dorji’s Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom was nominated for an Academy Award, and about rigsar, the pop music you will hear in every taxi.

Outside the capital you see the older art in its own setting: the murals of Punakha Dzong, the 7th and 8th century temples of Bumthang, and the painted houses of the villages. You end in Paro with the National Museum and the Tiger’s Nest. We arrange the artist meetings in advance, so tell us what interests you most: painting, photography, film, music, design or writing.