Lotuses in Thai Contemporary Painting: Symbols Conveying the Meanings of Buddhist Philosophy

Abstract

The study on “Lotuses in Thai Contemporary Painting: Symbols Conveying the Meanings of Buddhist Philosophy” aimed to: 1) study the use of lotus paintings to convey meanings of Buddhist philosophy by collecting data related to the topic, and 2) gather and contribute to the body of knowledge on Thai contemporary painting, and then analyze this so that the results of the study could be used in the creation of Thai contemporary paintings showing personal identity.

It was found that lotuses have been used as symbols of Buddhist philosophy in pieces of art from the past to present. Lotus symbols convey positive meanings rather than negative ones. A blooming lotus is widely used as a symbol to show Buddha’s teachings, aspects of Buddhist philosophy, or Buddhists’ faith and belief. For example, four kinds of lotuses symbolize four kinds of people’s intelligence. The body of knowledge received from the analysis was used to inform and develop the creation of new works.

The resulting set of art pieces was inspired by the nature of lotuses. These paintings were expressed using light and colors in an imaginary atmosphere. Small and big lotus shapes were put in a structure and shapes of free lines derived from rhythms of lotus leaves, delivering an idea of movement and astonishment. This established an aesthetic mood mixed with shapes in accordance with Buddhist philosophy leading to artistic completeness, full of aesthetic and mental value through 2-dimensional paintings. Two sets of experimental work and a set of concluding work were presented.