Ladakhi Thangka Painting

A thangka is painted on cloth stretched over a frame, built up in mineral and vegetable pigments following precise geometric grids that fix the proportions of each figure depicted, traditionally deities, teachers, and mandalas, meaning the artist works within a strict inherited system rather than free composition.

Ladakh's monasteries remain centers where the craft is taught and practiced much as it has been for centuries, and finished thangkas are used both in monastery ritual and, increasingly, sold to visitors as one of the region's most recognized art forms.