Burma painting has always taken an important part in world history of painting. An introduction to Burma painting would necessarily have to start with the prehistoric Paleolithic Age. The man of Stone Age era has left ineffaceable concrete proof of his creative insight and aptitude in different regions of Upper Myanmar. Thus it can be said that a historical record of the progress of Myanmar painting should start from this dawning of the artistic drive of our ancestors. They occupied this land of ours. These are well mentioned as the wall paintings of Padalin Cave.
Some of the wall paintings that are discovered in Padalin Cave near Ywangan village in southern Shan State are duly examined. After examination it has been proved that the people of this area had same calibre as the cave paintings of other Stone Age men of Europe. Even it has also been seen that the artists of this era were employing the same techniques. The paint used in these paintings was derived from a solution of clay. This was dissolved in some kind of animal fat where the colours were mainly brown, black, and orange. Scholars of that time thus concluded that the paint was most likely obtained by heating animal fat and then well mixing the components. This is done to achieve the desired shade and also color.
Various pictures that are painted and drawn on the limestone walls of the cave are almost ten to twelve feet high. The height is calculated from the ground. In some of the paintings the depictions of the fish, a cow, a human palm, calf, elephant, deer, wild boar, sun and bison can be seen. The technique comprised of line drawings overlaid with thick paint. They appear to convey a feel of identification with nature. Force and pride were also present in the paintings. These are some of the earliest paintings found in Burma or Myanmar.
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