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Senaka Senanayake:
A Journey through Nature’s Canvas
July 2023

The teacher invited
all the students
to express their
creativity by
painting anything
they desired on a large
brown paper affixed to the
classroom wall. Senanayake
vividly remembers his
choice—a watercolor depiction
of a giraffe.

Child Prodigy

“So, then I started painting large ones each day after
school. When I had a collection of about 100 paintings,
my parents invited Mr. L.P. Goonatilleke, a well-known
journalist and art critic, to evaluate my work. He was so
impressed with my paintings,” Senanayake shared.

With Mr. Goonatilleke’s intervention, a solo exhibition
was organized by the Ceylon Society of Arts, the oldest art
institution in Sri Lanka, at the National Art Gallery. This
momentous event took place on March 27, 1959, when
Senanayake was just 8 years old!
However, doubts arose as Senaka Senanayake’s
paintings, in his own words, displayed “the maturity of an
adult.” The extraordinary talent exhibited in his artworks
led many to question whether they were truly the creations
of a child.
It was with this skepticism in mind that Dr. Emil Van
Konigenenberg, the Dutch Vice-President of KLM, paid a
Impressed by the young boy’s skill, the teacher engaged visit to Senanayake’s home. Witnessing the young artist’s
in a conversation with his parents, encouraging them to remarkable skills, Dr. Konigenenberg was thoroughly
nurture Senanayake’s artistic talent. In Senanayake’s own impressed and recognized the need to provide Senanayake
words, his parents agreed with the teacher, believing that with better resources. He encouraged Senanayake to paint
if their son immersed himself in painting, he would be on canvases and made a heartfelt promise to supply him
less inclined to engage in mischievous activities. This early with the best available art materials in the world for as long
encouragement and support from his teacher and parents as he lived. True to his word, Dr. Konigenenberg fulfilled
shaped Senanayake’s artistic journey. his promise for a remarkable span of 15 years.