V. S. Gaitonde was born in Nagpur, Maharashtra and studied at the J.J. School of Art, Mumbai. The artist was closely associated with the Progressive Artists' Group in its last phase. Considered as one of country's foremost abstractionist, his artworks have a subliminal quality with the texture being rich to almost illuminating, arrived at with the layers of paints in the artist's signature style. With an inherent spiritual quality the artworks are brilliant manipulation of form, colour and technique that are almost lyrical.

The artist was awarded the first prize at the Young Asian Artists' Exhibition, Tokyo in 1957 and the Rockefeller Fellowship in 1964. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1971.