Dilip Ranade received his Diploma in Drawing and Painting from Sir J. J. School of Art, Mumbai (1971). He received an Indo-US sub-commission grant to study Museology (1984).
He has held solo as well as participated in, group exhibitions, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai (1972, 1978, 1980 & 2004) and Pundole Art Gallery, Mumbai (1979, 1981, 1989, 1996, 1999 & 2006), Cymroza Art Gallery, Mumbai (1999) and Total Museum, Seoul (2003).
He has presented several slide lectures on Portraiture and the Techniques of Diorama Making. In 2003 he delivered a lecture titled Changing Reality and Contemporary Museum, at the Hongik University, Seoul. He is currently Senior Curator, European and Indian Modern Paintings at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalya (formerly Prince of Wales Museum), Mumbai.
He lives and works in Mumbai.