The colorful world of Thanjavur Painting originated in 16th century in Tamil Nadu India is a most idiosyncratic ,antique, miniature type of painting named after the Place Thanjavur. Traditional yet contemporary, it's known for surface richness, vivid colors and compact composition. Celestial in a prayer room, classy & elegant in other places these are religious paintings with royal heritage of South India. This renowned, ornate art also referred as’ palagai padam’ in local parlance is the ultimate form of expression of love of God, truth, beauty and devotion.

Kumara Rajah Muthiah School of Traditional Arts and Crafts

The exquisite Thanjavur painting school was started by our beloved Meena Aunty in Gurukulam style in 1974.It is the only institution following orthodox principles of tradition that has percolated down the centuries. This grand admixture of craft and art dominated by an iconic style emphasize on color mixture, ornamentation and background and architectural frames. Meena Aunty has submitted a doctoral thesis on the origin of Art and Development of Tanjore Painting to Annamalai University and this was accepted in 2002. She has come out with a book "Tanjore Painting". Her dedication and perseverance towards this inimitable art is seen in her writing. A tradition rich in content, reasoned out in an every relevant context and nurtured aesthetically and spiritually has come to be translated in to thanjavur painting. Come and join our school to learn such a vibrant art.

Several stages of meticulous work are involved in the process of creating this painting.Making of Tanjore painting:

• Basic sketch of the image on the wooden base pasted with a cloth.
• Chalk powder/Zinc oxide with water-soluble adhesive applied on the base.
• Embellishments made over basic drawings with precious and semi precious stones as well as the relief work which gives them 3D effect. Laces or threads are used to adorn the jewellery.
• On top of this, high quality gold foils are pasted to ensure the paintings become family heirlooms
• Dyes are used to add color
• Final paintings come in 3 finishes - CLASSIC, ANTIQUE and EMBOSS.