Sen could not paint from 1979 to 1985 for various reasons, and restarted painting in 1986. Upto 1978 he faced a huge earning crisis with scant affordability for painting also, the character of his painting continued to be quite academic then. He says the break was good as he entered another dimension even as painting was always at the backdrop of his mind. After the break his brush took a totally different form, and he migrated from realistic work to more modern and abstract form of art.