George Keyt

George Keyt is often considered Sri Lanka's most distinguished modern painter. Keyt’s dominant style is influenced by cubism and also influenced, he has said, by his contemporary Henri Matisse.

In addition to being a painter, Keyt is a poet. He outlined his perceptions and practice as a painter in a few notable essays on the vision of the painter. One of his most notable literary works was the translation of the Gita Govinda into English and Sinhalese, these translations were illustrated by his own elegant line drawings (see Martin Russell collection and Amerasinghe-Ganendra collections).