Overview

Traditional Thai art primarily consists of Buddhist art and, to a lesser extent, Hindu-influenced Thai folklore. While Thai sculptures most often depict images of the Buddha and other characters from Buddhist and Hindu mythology, Thai paintings traditionally comprised book illustrations and painted ornamentation of temples and palaces. Paintings of Thai Buddha from different periods have a number of distinctive styles, and contemporary Thai art often combines traditional Thai elements with modern techniques.

Themes of Thai Painting

Traditional Thai paintings show subjects in two dimensions without perspective. An important element in the composition is the apportioning of areas: the main elements in the image are isolated from one another by space transformers, which eliminate the intermediate ground that would otherwise imply perspective. The size of each element in the picture reflects its degree of importance. Perspective was introduced only as a result of Western influence in the mid-19th century.

Thai Painting of the 19th Century

A depiction of a white elephant in 19th century Thai art.

The most frequent themes for Thai painting are illustrations of the Jataka tales (a vast body of fables about the previous incarnations of the Buddha, both in human and animal form), events from the life of the Buddha, the Buddhist heavens and hells, and scenes from daily life. The paintings reflect a blend of Thai folklore and traditional Buddhist iconography.

Historical Progression

The Sukhothai period began in the 13th century in the Sukhothai kingdom and dominated through the 15th century. Painted images often consisted of decorations of gold leaf in free-form designs on a lacquer background. Images of Buddha during this period are elegant, with sinuous bodies and slender, oval faces. This style emphasized the spiritual aspect of the Buddha and tried to follow the canonical defining marks of a Buddha, as they are set out in ancient Pali texts: 

Skin so smooth that dust cannot stick to it; Legs like a deer; Thighs like a banyan tree; Shoulders as massive as an elephant's head; Arms round like an elephant's trunk, and long enough to touch the knees; Hands like lotuses about to bloom; Fingertips turned back like petals; head like an egg; Hair like scorpion stingers; Chin like a mango stone; Nose like a parrot's beak; Earlobes lengthened by the earrings of royalty; Eyelashes like a cow's; Eyebrows like drawn bows.

Painting following the Sukhothai period was more elaborate, with Buddha images often depicted in royal attire. Paintings from the mid-19th century onward began to show the influence of Western art, such as the use of perspective.

Ramakien in Wat Phra Kaew

Hanuman on his chariot, a scene from the Ramakien in Wat Phra Kaew, Bangkok.