Mendis, Solius

SRI LANKA, North Western Province, Puttalam

Solius Mendis was a Neo-classical Sri Lankan painter born in Mahawewa, Puttalam. When he was young, he was sent to study Sanskrit and Pali under Master Sugatissa Maha Thera at Weherahena Temple in Southern Province. However, he had no interests in the studies and instead showed an extraordinary competency for drawing and painting. Mendis therefore left the temple on his own accord and became an apprentice under his uncle, Memonis Silva, who was also a reputed artist. He soon started painting murals in Buddhist temples.
Restoration work began to take place in Kelaniya Temple in 1930. Solius Mendis was invited to paint the murals for the new hall, but before he could begin, he was sent to Ajanta Caves, Ellora Caves, and Bagh Caves to gather inspiration. Upon returning to Sri Lanka, he spent the next 20 years completing numerous murals in the temple. The themes of the paintings surpass the commonly seen Life of the Buddha and Jataka stories. Instead, emphasis was placed on important Buddhist events as depicted in Protecting the Buddha’s Tooth Relic, Receiving the Bodhi Tree, Presentation of Visuddhimagga, and The Buddha’s Three Visits to Sri Lanka. The human figures painted by Solius Mendis appear graceful and the images are filled with soft tones. Classic and real in characteristics, the murals are marked with Solius’s unique style.
His works integrate elements of Indian Buddhist paintings, the culture of Sri Lanka, as well as the tradition of ancient murals. As such, they are regarded as some of the best Buddhist murals in Sri Lanka since the Polonnaruwa Kingdom period (circa 11th–13th century).