Jahangir was born in Satkhira on 2 January 1935. He graduated in Fine Arts from the Government Art Institute in Dhaka, and pursued painting for the past 55 years. He participated in numerous exhibitions. Jahangir was appointed the first director of the Department of Art in the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy and is credited with having successfully launched the Asian Art Biennale in 1981 (now Asia’s oldest biennale). An aesthete and a man of refined tastes, Jahangir was well versed in the arts and letters; he was a great connoisseur of music. Loved and revered by all, the country has lost a great man in his passing.

Syed Jahangir received the Ekushey Padak in 1985. Among many other awards, he received the Hamidur Rahman Puraskar in 2011. On the occasion of his  80th birth anniversary, Bengal Foundation organised his solo painting exhibition titled ‘Of Man and Earth’. A documentary film depicting his life and works titled ‘Ujjiban’ and an autobiographical memoir ‘Atttopratikriti’ (আত্মপ্রতিকৃতি) has also been published by Bengal Foundation.