Born in Coimbatore on May 30th, 1911, the lush green village in which Paniker lived influenced the colourful landscapes of his early years. The bright colours stayed in his paintings, even though he moved away from landscapes onto other things.

A virtual child prodigy, Paniker began painting landscapes when he was only 12. By the age of 17, he was already exhibiting at the Madras Fine Arts Society’s annual shows.

Somewhere in 1918, he gave up college education to take up a job at the Indian Telegraph Department to support his family after the death of his father.

It was not until the age of 25 that he joined the Government School of Arts and Crafts in Chennai. Since 1941, Paniker had been holding one man shows in Chennai and Delhi. It was only in 1954 that he got the first international exposure when he held exhibitions at London and Paris.

The exhibitions’ abroad and his exposure to abstract artists like Sarvoda Dali had a major influence on his art. “They hark back to the weird, but spiritually uplifting figurative exaggerations of ancient Indian painting and sculpture,” Paniker said.

Yet, the he used were bright and sunny, the kinds of that you see in the paintings of the Impressionists. Somewhere down the line, Paniker moved on to use calligraphy and symbols to project a state of metaphysical abstraction.

K.C.S. Paniker died in Chennai at the age 66 in January 1977.