Western painting
It is not precisely known where Aye picked up his more advanced skills in Western-style painting but they clearly did not come from Saya Chone. Aye had no known formal instruction in Western arts. It is said, however, that Aye studied Western painting from illustrations in foreign books, and this is probably true as acquiring such books in the colonial period would not have been difficult. The early Burmese painter Maung Maung Gyi (1890–1942), who traveled to London on his own in about 1906 and managed some education in Western painting there, is also said to have given Saya Aye instruction in Western painting after his return to Burma in 1908 or 1909. Maung Maung Gyi allegedly gave this instruction to Aye in exchange for instruction from Aye in Traditional painting, which was then still held in high regard.