Ramkumar was born in 1924 in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India.

In 2008, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Vagabond (1956), offered in the South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art by Christie's, which concluded on 20 March 2008 at New York, achieving a sale price of ₹4,68,34,740 ($1,161,000). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 2014, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Untitled (Orphans) (1956), offered in the The India Sale by Christie's, which concluded on 11 December 2014 at Mumbai, achieving a sale price of ₹4,82,25,000 ($775,248.01). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 2003, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Untitled (1957), offered in the Southeast Asian and 20th Century Indian Pictures by Christie's, which concluded on 06 July 2003 at Hong Kong, achieving a sale price of ₹42,30,171 ($91,404). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 2001, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Untitled (1959), offered in the Indian and Southeast Asian Art: Including 20th Century Indian Paintings by Christie's, which concluded on 17 October 2001 at New York, achieving a sale price of ₹19,73,589 ($41,125). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

My work is now guided by a concern with plastic qualities. I am more deeply involved with form than the content. When one is young and beginning, one’s work is dominated by content, by ideas ‒ but as one grows older, one turns to the language of painting itself. I have grown detached ‒ I want to find the same peace that the mystic found.

It is easy to see that Ram Kumar’s variations on the Benares theme would lead to abstraction. During the long phase of the Benares cityscapes there were paintings that one could regard, for all practical purposes, abstract; just as paintings after 1965, though largely abstract, contained shapes and references to the former theme – a suggestion of a door, a bridge, or a wall surface. The movement towards abstraction, inevitable as it might have been, also meant that the preoccupation with form would take precedence over everything else; certainly over content, but also over the sense of pathos that distinguished Ram Kumar’s work.

In 1992, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Banares (1962), offered in the Indian European and Oriental Paintings and Works of Art by Sotheby's, which concluded on 09 October 1992 at New Delhi, achieving a sale price of ₹49,500 ($1,647). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 1995, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Self Portrait (1967), offered in the Contemporary Indian Paintings: From The Chester and Davida Herwitz Charitable Trust by Sotheby's, which concluded on 12 June 1995 at New York, achieving a sale price of ₹1,26,405 ($4,025). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 1995, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Benares (1967), offered in the Contemporary Indian Paintings: From The Chester and Davida Herwitz Charitable Trust by Sotheby's, which concluded on 12 June 1995 at New York, achieving a sale price of ₹1,71,534 ($5,462). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 2006, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Falling Bird (1968), offered in the Indian and Southeast Asian Art: Including Modern Indian Paintings by Sotheby's, which concluded on 29 March 2006 at New York, achieving a sale price of ₹2,42,39,856 ($542,400). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 2001, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Untitled (1975), offered in the Modern Indian Art: 12 Contemporary Painters by Saffronart, which concluded on 16 May 2001 at Online, achieving a sale price of ₹7,05,000 ($15,022). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 2005, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Untitled (Benares) (1981), offered in the Indian And Southeast Asian Art: Including Modern And Contemporary Indian Art by Christie's, which concluded on 21 September 2005 at New York, achieving a sale price of ₹1,69,35,552 ($385,600). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

This journey has left me so restless. I’ll leave tomorrow. I don’t feel like going anywhere else. I’ll have to go upto Guwahati anyway. I’ll stop there for a day and then go straight back to Delhi. It seems as if all my life I was looking only for my happiness, my pleasure, my self-interest… Just went out on the roof of the hotel to look at Kohima. The same moon, stars, lights of Kohima and silence that veers towards man’s destiny. The sound of this silence is in no way less than the screeching noises one hears in Delhi. But this silence seems to warn - it is a delusion, don’t mistake it for peace, whatever noises you may encounter from now on, seek your peace in them. You’ll find it only there.

In 2005, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Untitled (1989), offered in the Indian and Southeast Asian Art: Including Modern Indian Paintings from The Wilberding Collection by Sotheby's, which concluded on 20 September 2005 at New York, achieving a sale price of ₹47,42,280 ($108,000). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 1998, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Landscape (1990), offered in the Twentieth Century Indian Art by Christie's, which concluded on 02 June 1998 at London, achieving a sale price of ₹2,75,169 ($6,596). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 1993, Ramkumar A Retrospective marked a major milestone in the exhibition history of Ramkumar, offering a retrospective survey of the artist's artistic production

In 1995, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Benaras (1994), offered in the Indian Contemporary Paintings: Islamic Works of Art and Indian, Himalaya and South-East Asian Art by Christie's, which concluded on 16 October 1995 at London, achieving a sale price of ₹1,81,424 ($5,291). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 1997, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Benares (1994), offered in the Indian Contemporary Art by Christie's, which concluded on 04 June 1997 at London, achieving a sale price of ₹2,69,261 ($7,527). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 1994, Ram Kumar A Retrospective marked a major milestone in the exhibition history of Ramkumar, offering a retrospective survey of the artist's artistic production

Why Banaras and not some place else? It is (sic) that at that point in my life, I happened to visit Banaras and it was all there before me. Perhaps one would see the same scenes in one’s own city and be not movede by them. Visually Banaras is like any other sacred city situated on the banks of a river with temples and ghats and pilgrims. Its uniqueness lies in its age old associations, faith of millions of Hindus. During my several visits to this city, my effort has been to fathom a little of its mysterious depths which I could interpret in my paintings. To achieve even a part of this needed a lot of meditation, long stays and numerous drawing and colour sketches which I have not yet been able to do. I also wonder if what made Banaras paintings so different from all the others was not the experience that went into the making of them.

In 1998, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Benares Landscape (1997), offered in the Twentieth Century Indian Art by Christie's, which concluded on 02 June 1998 at London, achieving a sale price of ₹4,55,995 ($10,931). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 2001, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Banaras (2000), offered in the Southeast Asian Pictures and 20th Century Indian Pictures by Christie's, which concluded on 01 April 2001 at Singapore, achieving a sale price of ₹6,24,857 ($13,397). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 2002, an artwork by Ramkumar was featured on the cover of Saffronart: Modern Indian Paintings (May 2002, London), marking a documented highlight in the artist's public and auction market visibility.

In 2005, the artist achieved a new high in the auction market with the sale of Untitled (2004), offered in the Southeast Asian and Modern Indian Paintings: Including Contemporary Art by Christie's, which concluded on 29 May 2005 at Hong Kong, achieving a sale price of ₹43,69,198 ($100,349). This record marked a defining moment in the artist's market history, reflecting both the significance of the artwork and its reception within the broader art world.

In 2008, an artwork by Ramkumar was featured on the cover of Christie's: South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art (March 2008, Hong Kong), marking a documented highlight in the artist's public and auction market visibility.

In 2008, an artwork by Ramkumar was featured on the cover of Osians: The ABC Series IV (July 2008, London), marking a documented highlight in the artist's public and auction market visibility.

The counterpoint between city and landscape has long exercised Ram Kumar: to shuttle between them is to know and traverse the discontinuity between home and world. The city, shored up from riversilt, vulnerable to the river’s sullen tides and periodic floods, would appear to symbolize the life of the householder, trammeled by duties, circumscribed by ritual, susceptible to anxiety. The landscape, on the other hand, with its drifts of ice and sand, suggests the open breadth of the cosmos, where the renouncer may wander at will.

In 2012, an artwork by Ramkumar was featured on the cover of Sotheby's: Modern and Contemporary South Asian Art (September 2012, Mumbai), marking a documented highlight in the artist's public and auction market visibility.

In 2017, an artwork by Ramkumar was featured on the cover of Asta Guru: Modern Indian Art (No Reserve Auction) (December 2017, Mumbai), marking a documented highlight in the artist's public and auction market visibility.

In 2019, an artwork by Ramkumar was featured on the cover of Prinseps: Modern Art Auction (April 2019, London), marking a documented highlight in the artist's public and auction market visibility.

In 2024, an artwork by Ramkumar was featured on the cover of Pundole: The Fine Art Sale (October 2024, Mumbai), marking a documented highlight in the artist's public and auction market visibility.