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Maria Abeyesekere is a Sri Lankan contemporary realist painter whose practice centres on portraiture and the human figure. Working primarily in oil, she creates paintings that explore psychological presence, memory, restraint, and the emotional resonance that exists beneath outward composure.

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Entirely self-taught and painting professionally for more than three decades, Abeyesekere has developed a distinctive visual language characterised by quiet observation, tonal subtlety, and meticulous craftsmanship. Her portraits are less concerned with likeness alone than with the interior states of her subjects, inviting prolonged contemplation and intimate engagement.

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Alongside her figurative practice, she has produced acclaimed botanical and wildlife works informed by Sri Lanka's extraordinary biodiversity and her lifelong fascination with the natural world. Across genres, her paintings share a commitment to attentive looking and the enduring possibilities of realism as a contemporary language.

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Her work has been exhibited internationally and is held in private collections in Sri Lanka, Europe specially Italy, France, Germany, UK and the United States.  In 2025, she received the International Artists of the French Riviera Prize and the International Prize Poseidon for Arts, Venice. Her work has also been featured in international magazines, exhibition catalogues, and art publications, including Fine Art Connoisseur and Master Artists to Collect.

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Maria Abeyesekere lives and works in Sri Lanka, where she continues to develop bodies of work that investigate stillness, emotional permanence, and the silent intervals between thought, gaze, and gesture.