Krishen Khanna is an Indian artist born in Faislabad, Pakistan. He attended Imperial Service College in England and is a self-taught artist. He is recipient of the Rockefeller Fellowship in 1962, the Padma Shri in 1990, and the Padma Bhushan in 2011. He was born in 1925 in Faisalabad. In Lahore Khanna had attended evening classes at the Mayo School of Art. After arriving in India he took up a post with the Grindlays Bank and was placed in Mumbai. Once there Khanna was invited to join the Progressive Artists' Group with whom he remained in active association for the rest of his time. In Mumbai he held his first major exhibition and sold his first painting to Dr. Homi Bhabha for the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.

He has held several solo & group exhibitions of his works. He has also participated in Tokyo Biennale, Japan in 1957 & 1961; Sao Paulo Biennale, Brazil in 1960; Venice Biennale, Italy in 1962; I, III, V International Triennale's, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi in1968, 1975 & 1982; Inaugural Exhibition: Roopankar Museum of Fine Arts, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal in 1981; First Art Biennale of Pakistan, Lahore in 1987; Takaoka Municipal Museum of Art & Meguro Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan in 1988; Indian Contemporary Painting, Christies Auction, London in 1995. He won the National Award of the Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi in 1965, the Gold Medal at the First Triennale of Contemporary World Art, New Delhi in 1968. He was a recipient of Padma Shree, awarded in 1990. Many publications have been brought out on him and on his works which include 'Krishen Khanna: Images in My Time' in 2007.