Saskia Fernando Gallery’s first exhibition for 2026 “Legacies” now on

Richard Gabriel, (n.d), Title Unknown,  Etching with Aquatint on Paper, 15 x 20 cm, Dominique-Henri Freiche Collection

Saskia Fernando Gallery’s first exhibition for the year 2026, Legacies, kicked off recently bringing  together eight stalwarts of Sri Lankan art in a celebration of their individual contributions and far reaching influence on the visual landscape of Sri Lanka. 

The exhibition, open until 15 February at 41 Horton Place, Colombo 07, presents a tightly curated selection of modern and contemporary artworks created between 1930-2020 by Lionel Wendt, George Keyt, Richard Gabriel , H.A. Karunaratne, Tilak Samarawickrema, Senaka Senanayake, Jagath Weerasinghe, Chandraguptha Thenuwara.

A highlight of the exhibition is Three Figures with a Veena and Still Life, paintings by George Keyt (1901 -1993)  who is acknowledged as Sri Lanka’s most renowned and celebrated modern painter. Acquired from a private collection, the works display Keyt’s distinctive style featuring enlarged almond-shaped eyes and bold, crisp lines, often portraying nudes, village scenes, and Hindu-Buddhist mythologies. Keyt became a vital member of the ‘43 Group, contributing significantly to Sri Lanka’s art movement. Keyt leaves behind a legacy of innovative artistic fusion and a profound impact on Sri Lankan artistry.

In his short lived career, Lionel Wendt (1900-1944) exhibited a keen observation of the environment and his attempts to go beyond the photographic medium to conjure surrealistic imagery. Lionel Wendt challenged colonial mentalities, advocating for an authentic embrace of indigenous culture and individual creativity. By the Buddhist Shrine, a photograph presented by the artist at the Seventh Annual Western International Photographic Salon in England in 1935 will be showcased as a part of Legacies. 

A 1978 oil painting by Senanaka Senanayake, features in the showcase. Celebrated primarily for his vibrant depictions of flora and fauna, this verdant green and sunlit yellow piece by Senanayake is among the artist’s pursuits of Sri Lanka’s pastoral and idyllic life. Senaka Senanayake achieved early fame as a child prodigy, with his work first exhibited in Colombo in the late 1950s. At the age of ten, he held his first international solo exhibition in New York. He has since established himself as one of the region’s most important living artists

Created during the same period, the exhibition showcases copper plate etchings by Tilak Samarawickrema from 1976, produced while he was a student in Italy. Among the last surviving prints from the artist’s collection, these Artist’s Proofs reimagine Sri Lankan folk culture through the sinuous curves of the Sinhala script.

The signature abstract works by H. A. Karunaratne, shaped by his exposure to works by Abstract Expressionist artists such as Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline, will feature in the showcase. H.A. Karunaratne is widely considered the father of abstract art in Sri Lanka and is a distinguished pedagogue renowned for his profound impact on abstract expressionism within the country’s art institutions. Reverberating with energy, these works exemplify the amalgamation of Japanese Zen philosophy with the bold, gestural visual language of American Abstract Expressionism in the artist’s practice.

Bridging the Modern to the Contemporary, Legacies showcases early works from the 1990s by Jagath Weerasinghe and Chandraguptha Thenuwara, whose critical responses to the political climate of Sri Lanka helped shape the emergence of socially and politically engaged art in the country. Jagath Weerasinghe’s Broken Stupa stands as a powerful symbol of the artist’s interrogation of the erosion of the fundamental principles of ahimsa, created against the backdrop of a civil war that spanned from the 1980s to 2009. Also featured are rare etchings by Chandraguptha Thenuwara from 1999, Dance of Victory and Camouflage, which articulate the artist’s deep concerns regarding the intensification of militarisation in Sri Lanka.

This exhibition is a noteworthy step forward in the showcase of modern and contemporary artworks in the country as DirectorSaskia Fernando notes: “This exhibition represents a significant step for the gallery in terms of archiving and showcasing contemporary art. Over the past three years, Saskia Fernando Gallery has begun to establish archives for various contemporary artists and important private collections, marking the start of comprehensive documentation of their work and collecting practices. The historical and cultural importance of this endeavor for Sri Lanka is notable.”

The exhibition is open to the public until 5.02.2026, at 41 Horton Place, Colombo 07. 

Tilak Samarawickrema, 1980, Untitled 7, Copper Plate Etching, 50 x 39 cm 

Senaka Senanayake, 1978, Title not Known, Oil on Canvas, 110 x 82 cm, Udayshanth Fernando Collection 

Lionel Wendt, c.1935, By a Buddhist Shrine, Silver Gelatin Print on Paper, 34 x 30 cm, Dominique-Henri Freiche Collection

Jagath Weerasinghe, 1993, Broken Stupa, Mixed Media on Paper, 54 x 39 cm 

H. A. Karunaratne, 2019, Untitled , Oil on Canvas, 120 x 200 cm

George Keyt, c. 1980, Three Figures with a Veena, Oil on Canvas 91 x 68 cm, Nimal and Malika Cooke Collection

Chandraguptha Thenuwara, Dance of Victory, Etching and Aquatint on Paper, 29 x 29 cm, Artisit_s Proof