The history of Balinese paintings in the Puri Lukisan Museum...

Once you arrived at Puri Lukisan Museum in Ubud, the first thing you used to see was a beautiful small bridge over a river gully leading towards attractive landscaped gardens. Unfortunately they have removed the bridge last summer and made a parking lot out of it.

Nonetheless the museum is still set amidst ponds with lotus flowers, gardens with tropical flowers and Balinese statues. The name of the museum means two things; Puri means “Palace” and Lukisan means “Paintings”, easy to remember for a museum about Balinese paintings right?

The Puri Lukisan museum has an exceptional selection of modern paintings, drawings and statues dating from the 1930s till the present day.

These works of art are displayed in chronological order so you can follow all of the changes in the different styles throughout the years. The oldest museum of Ubud is made of three buildings;

Building I has a permanent collection of artworks from the
- Wayang Style (old religious style with lots of rules)
- Paintings by I Gusti Nyoman Lempad (Bali’s famous artist)
- The Periods of the Pita Maha (influenced by foreign painters)

Building II has a permanent collection with
- The Young Artists Style (naïve, childish style encouraged by Arie Smit)
- The Modern Traditional Balinese Style

Building III is open during temporary exhibitions only.

The painter Rudolf Bonnet (Dutch) has played an important part in founding the museum. He came to Ubud in the 1930’s and influenced together with Walter Spies (German) the local painters of Ubud. A new era was born and their style is called the Ubud Style.

Balinese market, 1955,Watercolor on canvas
by Anak Agung Gede Sobrat (1917-1992)

Together with Tjokorda Gde Agung Sukawati, his brother Tjokorda Gde Raka Sukawati and I Gusti Nyoman Lempad (Bali’s famous artist) they founded the Pita Maha group in 1936.

They stimulated local Balinese painters in using new techniques and tools. The Pita Maha group also represented the Balinese artists and their works in overseas markets. The group also provided a regular forum for local artists to share inspiration and discuss matters related to their works. It was a huge success.

The local Balinese painters switched from using basic colours and religious epics from the Mahabharatha and Ramayana to scenes of everyday Balinese life, something they had never done before.

Pita Maha, Ubud Style painting

The Pita Maha group ceased to exist after WWII (Walter Spies drowned on a bombed boat ) but a foundation called the Yayasan Ratna Wartha was created by Tjokorda Gde Agung Sukawati (the Prince of Ubud) and his close friend Rudolf Bonnet in 1952.

The foundation was created to carry out the ideas and uphold the rules of the Pita Maha group by founding the Puri Lukisan Museum in the same year.

If you have some time left after visiting the buildings, take a seat on any of the benches in the gardens and enjoy the fantastic garden with its statues. This is what Ubud is all about…

Lotus ponds at the Puri Lukisan Museum

Otherwise you can head over to the small book store and buy some postcards or calendars of the various paintings on display.

Next to this book store you find on certain days of the week a Bali Aga man (original inhabitant of Bali) from Tenganan village drawing famous Balinese calendars on lontar leaves. He would love to show how it works and what it all means.

By the way, photography with flash equipment is not permitted inside the museum because it can damage the paintings.

The museum is open daily from 9am to 5pm and the entrance fee is Rp20.000.