Gaitonde once remarked ''My entire outlook changed when I came to know that the Chinese have no epics to boast of, for the simple reason that an epic covers a long period of time and it is basically wrong to say, for instance, that any age can be heroic… any abstract feeling such as love, courage, etc. can be valid only for a given moment. One is not in love eternally, even if the feeling is there. The ecstasy of the moment cannot be stretched over a long period."
This was reflected in his works; he constantly worked to arrive at instant emotions that conveyed through the simplest of means an eternal truth. Some people thought that these works evoked the remembered landscape or nature based abstraction while others felt that he captured vast expanses of space with luminous forms that were nebulous. One can compare him to a Zen master creating the masterstroke with his calligraphic flourish or the sensuous monk sweeping the sand garden to create a unique pattern in an instant.