Sean Keating is best known for his romantic-realist paintings of the Anglo-Irish War and the early industrialisation of Ireland, including his documentary depictions of the construction of the Shannon hydroelectric scheme at Ardnacrusha.

He competed in the painting section of the arts competition at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games, submitting a work believed to have been The Hunter, also known as The Fowler, a 1924 painting that is now lost.

He began his studies at the Limerick Technical School before moving to the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin, where he taught from 1918 to 1954, and was elected President of the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1949, a position he held until 1962.

His early work showed sympathy for the militant Irish independence movement and reflected a strong sense of social justice, alongside religious commissions for the Church. His painting The Tipperary Hurler, completed in 1928 and his only depiction of an athlete, has been held by the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin since 1956.

He went on to compete in the arts competition at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games.