Gopal Ghose, also known as an ‘India Wanderer” was born in Calcutta. Although, he was born in Kolkata, he spent most of his childhood away from Kolkata.

His artistic journey commenced in 1935 with the receiving of a Diploma in Painting from the Maharaja College of Arts and Crafts, Jaipur, and received his formal training in Sculpture at the Government College of Art, Madras in 1938, under the tutelage of Debi Prasad Roy Choudhuri, who was known for his realistic sculptures and paintings. Ghose was also trained in the style of art known as Neo-Bengal School, under  Nandalal Bose and Shailendranath Dey.

The Indian landscape fascinated him and he covered many aspects of nature in his works. He travelled extensively within India on his bicycle to paint his landscapes. He was adept with several mediums, and was known especially for his ingenious handling of watercolour. He also worked with tempera, pen and ink, and brush and pastel, and his technique of swift sweeping of brushwork in his landscapes also earned him appreciation even from India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

After returning to Kolkata in 1943, he founded the first group of modern painters in India, known as the ‘Calcutta Group’. They held shows from 1945 and in 1950, they also did a group show along with the Progressive Artists’ Group in Bombay. His works from 1940-47, were like a visual catalogue of atrocities, revealing the story of pain and despair of man-made miseries and cruelties.

He taught at the Indian Society of Oriental Art, in Kolkata from 1940-45 and then joined the Faculty of the Bengal Engineering College, Shibpur, where he taught architectural drawing.