The art of painting in Kerala has a tradition, which goes back to the immediate Post-Aganta Period.

The murals of Tirunandikkara (Kanya Kumari Dist) are the specimens of this art in Kerala and they are believed to be of Pandiyan origin. Churches of Kerala also contain some valuable pieces of paintings.

The performance of religious rites necessitated the development of a special kind of pictorial art in Kerala known as Kalamezuthu. Raja Ravi Verma is one of the outstanding names in the art of painting in Kerala.

Paintings in Kerala date at least a thousand years back. The earliest of murals, attributing to the Kerala's tradition are found in a small cave shrine in the southern part of erstwhile Travancore.

The murals of the temples at Haripad, Aranmula, Vaikom and Udayapuram are exquisite specimens of artistic excellence. The pinnacle of achievements in pictorial art is visible on the walls of the shrine at Sree Padmanabhaswami temple, Thiruvananthapurm, executed in the true native style.