Himachal Pradesh is the home of the Chamba and Kangra schools of painting - well reputed in the world of art for their excellent portrayal of court and romantic scenes blending of colours and minute details of figures. But there is yet another school of painting that survives in Himachal - the Gompa school. It is Buddhist in origin and at one time was limited only to the Buddhist monasteries. Gradually however, some of the romantic influences of the Chamba and Kangra schools seeped into the Gompa style. New local craftsmen have incorporated the Gompa art of painting into contemporary patchwork pictures.

Raja Goverdhan Singh gave shelter to a numbers of painters of Delhi at his court. Towards the middle of the 18th century these scattered kingdoms of rajputs of Kangra witnessed the birth of a magnificient style of paintings. The budding miniature paintings blossomed forth in the small states of Nurpur, Kangra and Kullu, Chamba and ultimately at Sujanpurtira - the known home of Kangra paintings. The themes of these paintings were derived from the love poetry of Jayadeva and Keshava Das. The painters with their exquisite taste and superb style changed the very look of hill paintings and arts. Thousands of paintings related to love stories of Radha and Krishna were produced.