This book is an overview of `Sri Lankan Painting in the 20th Century', Its principal purpose is to present an image of transect of painterly activity in the past century. The spectrum of Painterly activity in the 20th century reflects in its own unique way the articulation of tradition and modernisation in Sri Lankan society through that century. Sri Lankan Painting in the 20th century has really been looked at in a panoramic way, despite a number of writings on particular artists, groups and collections. The present book looks at a number of representative artists, extending from those who were active in and around 1900 to those who began to produce their mature work before the end of the century. A closer focus is provided in short inset texts on twelve major 20th century painters.