The living room on the mezzanine floor is where the Arakkals usually entertain guests

My wife says our house feels more like an art studio than a home,” chuckles artist Yusuf Arakkal as he ushers you into his stone brick home in Bangalore’s AECS Layout area. Partly sheltered by trees lining the front garden, the house is a great show-window for Indian art as almost every wall in the house displays paintings by renowned artists.

Wide stone steps outlined by planters lead to the front door which opens into a corridor lined with artwork. The corridor has a grey stone wall on one side and a plain whitewashed wall on the other. A painting by M.F. Husain adorns the stone wall and has a personal message for Arakkal’s wife, Sara. Two paintings by F. N. Souza are on the same wall. “The two Souzas are very close to my heart,” says Arakkal who met Souza during an artists’ protest in Delhi in 1986.

Yusuf Arakkal took a hands-on approach in building his home and even designed some of the furniture himself

A newer work — a photograph — is on the opposite wall. It’s a picture of green mountains taken by his 35-year-old photographer son, Shibu. “I bought it from one of his exhibitions,” says the 66-year-old artist.

Built from scratch on a 4,000sqft plot, the house was designed, Arakkal says, to allow plenty of natural light and fresh air in.

The house is spread over four levels. The first is the basement where Arakkal stocks his unpainted canvases and equipment while the ground floor has a library, dining space, kitchen, living room and bedroom which was once his son’s who has now moved to his own house with his wife and daughter. Left of the corridor is the library while on the right is a flight of stairs leading to the second living room on the mezzanine floor.

The stone facade of the house gives it a rustic appeal

Past the steps on the right is the dining space which has two portraits by Arakkal — one of Sara’s father and the other of Mother Teresa. Facing the dining space, on the left, is the living room, where the walls are covered with works of upcoming Indian artists.

Doors are conspicuous by their absence giving the ground floor a roomier feel. So, except for the bedroom doors there are no partitions to the library, the dining space or living room.

An avid reader, Arakkal’s favourite room is the library

“Initially he didn’t want any rooms at all but I convinced him to add a few bedrooms,” laughs Sara, who runs Galerie Sara Arakkal. So, while one bedroom is on the ground floor, two more are on the fourth level.

The floors are just as eye-catching. The living room, library and studio have terracotta tiled floors, while the rest are light pink marble. “It’s inexpensive but I like the colour,” says Arakkal. The artist designed all the furniture as well — from the granite-top dining table to the couches in the ground floor living room.

Arakkal — an avid reader — spends time in the library writing poems and articles for numerous publications. “I read everything from Tintin comics to books on arts and politics,” he says.

The dining table with its granite top was designed by the painter

While the library shelves are overflowing with books, the space above them is filled with paintings. The wall above the library entrance has a display of hats and caps collected from Arakkal’s travels abroad. Other eye-catchers here are sculptures by young artists, one of which is a terracotta typewriter by Suresh Kumar. Pointing to a Tanjore of Lord Krishna he laughs, “Lord Krishna and I share the same birthday.”

Arakkal has works by artists like K.G. Subramanian, Akbar Padamsee, R.B. Bhaskaran, Suhas Roy, Sunil Das and Shyamal Dutta Roy. There are also works by younger artists like C.F. John, Mani M. Nagasubramanian and photographs by his son.

A conversation piece, the terracotta typewriter is a work by young sculptor Suresh Kumar

The living room at the mezzanine level is where the Arakkals usually entertain guests. The room is filled with artwork and the bright green ceiling complements the green sofa upholstery.

The studio’s accessed by the stairs through the mezzanine living room. Arakkal says the studio was built to get the light in from the north and is designed exactly like his studio in France. Attached to the studio are two bedrooms, one of which opens into the studio. These are used by Sara and Arakkal.

“Whatever else might change in this house, collecting art will be a constant,” he says with a smile.