death_date years_active religion birth_place other_names color nationality background birth_date spouse image article_title education name
01 october 1975 1925 to 1960 buddhism kahawa village , colombo , sri lanka walimuni solias mendis black sri lanka sri lankan #ffd 068 12 july 1895 single solias mendis.jpg solias mendis
 minimal knowledge in sinhala and english languages solias mendis
solias mendis

walimuni solias mendis -lrb- june 17 , 1897 -- september 1 , 1975 -rrb- was a renowned sri lankan artist primarily known for his temple paintings , accomplished in a neo-classical style .
a native of mahawewa , madampe , halawatha in sri lanka , second of seven boys in the family , mendis was intended by his parents to become an ayurveda physician , but he was drawn to art .
in his early years , he worked and trained alongside his uncle memonis silva , himself a master painter .
once accomplished himself , he began painting murals in buddhist temples .
later such as rannasgalla vihara and maddepola vihara.the buddhist monks and devotees who saw magnificent style decided to call him to paint in kelani vihara .
in order to increase his skills mendis visited india to examine the works of ajanta caves , ellora caves , bagh caves and sarnath , which inspired him to mingle the techniques of indian buddhist art with the traditions of sinhalese classical art , eschewing the then prevalent european traditions .
at around the age of 30 , he undertook a twenty-year project to complete the kelaniya vihara murals.his style was unique , from graceful brush strokes to perspective .
