Young painters like MaqboolFidaHusain and Francis Newton Souza embraced avant-garde European movements like Cubism and Expressionism and advocated for a fresh take on Indian art as well.
Along with a dozen other artists of the same generation, including MaqboolFidaHusain (see The Picasso of India), Mehta belongs to the Progressive Artists Group, founded in 1947, the year of India's independence, to create homegrown modern art.