Tibetan Thangka, XVIII-XIX centuries.

Tibetan Thangka, 18th-19th centuries.
"Wheels of life".
Mixed media on canvas.
Framed.
Measurements: 93 x 72 cm; 135 x 90 cm (canvas); 151 x 101 cm (frame).

Tibetan thangka representing different wheels of life organized around a great pantheon of Indo-Buddhist divinities. The thangka is a type of Tibetan painting used by Buddhists for meditation, also known as "walking temples" due to the nomadic life of Tibetans and considered one of the best expressions of Tibetan art. Buddhism holds that there are Six Realms of Samsara or Existence in which the consciousness is confined in a cycle of successive births from which it only emerges when it reaches Enlightenment.
Tibetan thangkas are Buddhist banners, painted or embroidered on silk, other fabrics or paper, which can be rolled up. They were hung in monasteries and family altars, and occasionally carried by monks in religious processions. Originally, thangka paintings were popular with itinerant monks, as scroll paintings were easy to transport from one monastery to another. They were also important teaching tools, depicting scenes from the life of the Buddha, prominent lamas and bodhisattvas.