Ivan Peries was born in Sri Lanka in 1931. Peries' work has largely grown out of his preoccupation with the idealisation of the Ceylonese landscape. The artist was part of the 43 Group, an art group which took inspiration from international art movements based in Paris and London as well as Santiniketan. Members of the group included painters George Keyt and Richard Gabriel. The 43 Group artists were able to create a more secular painting tradition than the one supported by the Ceylon Society of Arts. The artist died in 1969.

In this painting, we see a sombre landscape consisting of a black sky, two white abstract trees and a monk. The monk, who is dressed in a red robe sits in the foreground and looks towards the seashore. During an interview, the artist stated that the scene is set on the seashore at Dehiwala (the artist's home village, near Mount Lavinia (Sri Lanka) just outside Colombo. The subject is derived from a number of sources; in part from the saints of the Christian tradition, in part from figures observed in his home village and in part it represents the artist himself.