Indian summer of art at British Museum

London, Dec 5 (IANS) The British Museum will showcase Indian art and culture next summer to celebrate the country's emergence as an 'emerging superpower'.

The six-month extravaganza beginning next May is called Indian Summer. It will be an exhibition of paintings never before seen in Europe, installations, performances, film screenings and the construction of a typical Indian garden in the museum's forecourt.

For the first time, a collection of 55 paintings - Garden and Cosmos: The Royal Paintings of Jodhpur - will be seen in Europe.

An Indian garden that will come up on the museum's west lawn will showcase Indian plants significant in the country's food, medicine and trade.

The museum will focus on India as 'another emerging superpower'. Neil MacGregor, director of the museum, told The Independent: 'With a huge Indian population in London and the UK, and as India becomes more and more involved in our economic, cultural, political and social life, it is the perfect moment for an Indian Summer.'

As if in a prelude to the Indian Summer, London's Serpentine Gallery is opening an Indian exhibition, called Indian Highway, next week, incorporating architecture, art, literature and performance.