Dattaprasanna Rane was born in 1952 at village Talera in the Konkan district of south- western India. He came to Mumbai in 1973, and did a foundation course in art from the Sir J.J. School of Art, before joining the Raheja College in Bandra, Mumbai. 

"I have not been influenced by any teacher. What I am today, I have myself shaped over the years," says the 49-year-old artist who lives in Mumbai and teaches art in a school. A watercolorist, there is a sense of serenity and thoughtfulness that permeates most of his canvasses. 

Rane is perhaps one of the few painters of his generation who can claim a complete mastery over the orchestration of color and texture, feels art critic Dayanand Nadkarni. The outline of human forms that he projects glow in a kind of misty light. "It is quite reflective of the light in humble Konkan dwellings, especially when sunlight seeps through the apertures of the tiled roofs," says the artist.