“For me Art was something that I wished to draw, therefore to express.”

Ratan Parimoo is an artist, Art historian, and pedagogue, who has worked his entire life producing art, teaching Indian and Western Art History. He is one of the pioneering art historians of post independence India whose work is internationally known.At the age of 15, he moved to Vadodara to study painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda, under N S Bendre. Parimoo was also a founding member of the Baroda Group, and has played an important role in shaping the careers and languages of many young artists, as well as demonstrating liberalism in art when necessary. One of the earliest painters to respond to the "abstract style" of the nation's initial modernist movements following Independence was Prof. Parimoo. He had a significant role in the establishment of the department of art history. His attempts to make art history a priority in the curriculum for bachelor's and master's degree courses are valuable. From 1975 until his retirement in 1996, he later served as the department's head and as the Faculty's Dean.

He has received numerous prestigious honors, including the Commonwealth Scholarship (1960–1963), JawaharLal Nehru Fellowship (1991–1993), The Rockefeller IIIrd Grant to study and travel in the USA (1974), the Gaurav Puraskar, Gujarat State Lalit Kala Academy in 2000, 2016 Raja Ravi Varma Chitrakar Sanman award, Megh Mandal Sansthan, Mumbai, 2019 ‘Rabindranath Tagore Birth Centenary Medal’ by Asiatic Society in Kolkata at 235th Annual meet for contribution to Human culture.