In 1946, Mr. Raza held his first solo show at the Bombay Art Society Salon. In 1947, he cofounded the Progressive Artists group in Bombay, along with other artists including F. N. Souza and K. N. Ara. The group set out to break free from the influences of European realism in Indian art and bring an Indian inner vision (antar gyan) into Indian art. The group had its first show in 1948, shortly before Raza left for France. After completing his studies at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts, he travelled across Europe and then settled down in Paris where he lived and exhibited his work until 2010 when he moved back to India.

Once in France, Raza continued to experiment with currents of western modernism, moving from expressionist modes towards greater abstraction and eventually incorporating elements of tantric visual forms from Indian scriptures. Whereas his fellow contemporaries dealt with more figural subjects, Raza chose to focus on landscapes in the 1940s and 50s, inspired in part by the move to France. One of his significant works during his early Paris years is “Village with Church”(1958). He became the first non-French artist to be awarded the prestigious Prix de la Critique in 1956. Over time he moved from the expressionist mode towards greater abstraction and began to incorporate an Indian vision and Indian ethnography into his works. Numerous visits to India and an urge to forge a new artistic direction brought forth the abstract concept of Bindu which, according to him, is the center of creation and existence. After the introduction of Bindu he added newer dimensions to his thematic oeuvre in the following decades. With the inclusion of themes around the Tribhuj (Triangle), which visualized the Indian concepts of space and time, as well as that of Prakriti-Purusha (the female and the male energy), his transformation from an expressionist to a master of abstraction, was complete.

In his long career, Raza has held several solo and group exhibitions in India and abroad. Some of the exhibitions include Biennale de Venice, 1956; Biennale de Menton, 1964, 66, 68, 72 & 76; Biennale du Moroc, Rabat, 1963; Biennale, Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal, 1986; Bienniale of Havana, 1987; Jane Woorhese Zimmerli Art Museum, New Jersey, 2002; Swasti, NGMA, New Delhi, 2007. His important works include Saurashtra, Shanti Bindu, La Terre and Gestation.