ABSTRACT
His life stretched across the entire 20th century and was witness to its triumphs and upheavals. Added to that was the drama of his own journey which was as intense as his creations in paint and poetry. George Keyt, the painter known for his voluptuous, sensual, spiritual and modern works, was born on April 1901 in Kandy, the Sri Lankan hill station, with its resplendent scenery and long tradition of history and culture. Kandy is Sri Lanka’s second city after Colombo and was preferred by colonials because of its cooler climate and scenic beauty with its lakeland setting and hilly surroundings. Its many old colonial buildings and the tea plantations in its vicinity testify to their emphatic presence in the last century. Kandy’s biggest draw, however, is the Temple of the Sacred Tooth, where a tooth relic of Lord Buddha is kept in a golden casket and a sumptuous annual festival takes place to celebrate this. Ironically enough it was the only town that did not have colonial rulers until it finally succumbed to the British in 1815.
