Editing Mongolia (section)

=== Visual arts ===
Before the 20th century, most works of the fine arts in Mongolia had a religious function, and therefore Mongolian fine arts were heavily influenced by religious texts.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Terese Tse Bartholomew |year=1995 |title=Introduction to the Art of Mongolia |url=http://www.asianart.com/mongolia/introduct.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130306134950/http://www.asianart.com/mongolia/introduct.html |archive-date=March 6, 2013 |access-date=2013-03-22 |publisher=asianart.com |df=mdy-all}}</ref> [[Thangkas]] were usually painted or made in [[appliqué]] technique. Bronze sculptures usually showed Buddhist deities. A number of great works are attributed to the first [[Jebtsundamba Khutuktu]], [[Zanabazar]].

In the late 19th century, painters like [[Marzan Sharav|"Marzan" Sharav]] turned to more realistic painting styles. Under the [[Mongolian People's Republic]], [[socialist realism]] was the dominant painting style,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Veronika Ronge |title=Die Mongolen: Beiträge zu ihrer Geschichte und Kultur |publisher=Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft |year=1986 |isbn=978-3-534-03579-3 |editor-last=Michael Weiers |pages=125–148 |chapter=Kunst und Kunstgewerbe}}</ref> however traditional ''thangka''-like paintings dealing with secular, nationalist themes were also popular, a genre known as "[[Mongol zurag|Mongol ''zurag'']]".

Among the first attempts to introduce [[modernism]] into the fine arts of Mongolia was the painting ''Ehiin setgel'' (''Mother's love'') created by Tsevegjav in the 1960s. The artist was purged as his work was censored.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

All forms of fine arts flourished only after [[perestroika]] in the late 1980s. Otgonbayar Ershuu is arguably one of the most well-known Mongolian modern artists in the Western world, he was portrayed in the film "ZURAG" by Tobias Wulff.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ZURAG – a movie about Otgonbayar Ershuu |url=http://www.zurag.de/zurag-film.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729204853/http://www.zurag.de/zurag-film.html |archive-date=July 29, 2013 |access-date=2013-06-28 |publisher=Zurag.de |df=mdy-all}}</ref>