Indonesian painting has a very long tradition and history in Indonesian art, though because of the climatic conditions very few early examples survive, Indonesia is home to some of the oldest paintings in the world. The earliest Indonesian paintings were the rock paintings of prehistoric times, such as the petroglyphs found in places like in the caves in the district of Maros in Sulawesi, Indonesia. The Stone Age rock paintings found in Maros Cave are approximately 40,000 years old and are listed as one of the oldest paintings in the world. In November 2018, however, scientists reported the discovery of the then-oldest known figurative art painting, over 40,000 (perhaps as old as 52,000) years old, of an unknown animal, in the cave of Lubang Jeriji Saléh on the Indonesian island of Borneo (Kalimantan). In December 2019, figurative cave paintings depicting pig hunting in the Maros-Pangkep karst in Sulawesi were estimated to be even older, at at least 43,900 years old. The finding was noted to be “the oldest pictorial record of storytelling and the earliest figurative artwork in the world”. And more recently, in 2021, cave art of a pig found in an Indonesian island, and dated to over 45,500 years, has been reported. (en)
Indonesian painting has a very long tradition and history in Indonesian art, though because of the climatic conditions very few early examples survive, Indonesia is home to some of the oldest paintings in the world. The earliest Indonesian paintings were the rock paintings of prehistoric times, such as the petroglyphs found in places like in the caves in the district of Maros in Sulawesi, Indonesia. The Stone Age rock paintings found in Maros Cave are approximately 40,000 years old and are listed as one of the oldest paintings in the world. (en)