[1][2][3] While still an adolescent, San Win was adopted by Martin Ward, a professor of physics at Rangoon University during the British colonial period in Burma.
The BAC was initially established to meet the needs of the British community in Rangoon for weekend painting sessions; however, its agenda became more and more ambitious, and young Burmese artists such as Ba Nyan and San Win became members of the club and availed themselves of its training.
[2][4][5] In 1920, Ba Nyan was sent to London on a colonial stipend where he was taught European styles of oil painting in more academic and professional settings.
In 1960-61, San Win had further opportunities to travel overseas on a UNESCO cultural exchange program, in which he visited and studied art education in England, the USA, Italy, France, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, and perhaps other countries.
[3] Despite his heavy responsibilities as a teacher and art official, San Win managed to produce a healthy amount of his work in his life, and he would be regarded by almost any scholar of 20th century Burmese painting as one of the top dozen or so painters of his time.
Thein Han, the writer, not the painter, said of him, "In landscapes whose contrasts of light and shade sometimes recall the impressionism of Monet, and in occasional figures, U San Win has shown his mastery of the tonal values of color.
San Win’s chief subject in his work was the famous religious monuments and sites of Burma, though he did also do more secular landscapes of ordinary life.