Paintings in Kerala date at least a thousand years back. The earliest of murals, attributing to the Kerala's tradition are found in a small cave shrine in the southern part of erstwhile Travancore. The murals of the temples at Haripad, Aranmula, Vaikom and Udayapuram are exquisite specimens of artistic excellence. The pinnacle of achievements in pictorial art is visible on the walls of the shrine at Sree Padmanabhaswami temple, Thiruvananthapurm, executed in the true native style.
Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906)
is one of the outstanding names in the art of painting in Kerala. Born in Kilimanoor Palace as the son of Umamba Thampuratti and Neelakandan Bhattathiripad. At the age of seven years he started drawing on the palace walls using charcoal. His uncle Raja Raja Varma noticed the talent of the child and gave preliminary lessons on painting. At the age of 14, Ayilyam Thirunal Maharaja took him to Travancore Palace and the palace painter Rama Swamy Naidu taught him water painting. After 3 years Theodor Jenson, a British painter taught him oil painting. Most of his paintings are based on Hindu epic stories and characters. In 1873 he won the First Prize at the Madras Painting Exhibition. He became a world famous Indian painter after winning in 1873 Vienna Exhibition
Painting in oil colour was popularised in Kerala by Raja Ravivarma. His paintings were mostly scenes and figures of mythological interest, remarkable for their richness of tone. Even during his lifetime, Ravivarma was famous in the art circles of the World. His paintings are exhibited at the Sree chitra art gallery in Thiruvananthapuram, Baroda and Mysore Museums. Today a number of talented painters like Madhava menon, K.C.S Panikar and M.V Devan have enriched the scene with their contributions.