Born on September 17, 1915, Maqbool Fida Husain or M.F. Husain was a multi-faceted artist with a lot of his work also stirring controversies
Called the ‘Picasso of India’, Husain’s first love was cinema and he originally set out to become a film director in Bombay (now Mumbai) but had to take up the job of painting film billboards to make a living
In the late 1940s, he helped found The Progressive Artists Group of Bombay (PAG) and his work was inspired by Indian themes and culture. He brought forth the Indian art to an international audience.
It was only in 1967 that Husain made his first film, Through the Eyes of a Painter. The movie was showcased at the Berlin Film Festival and won the Golden Bear short film award. In 1973, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan followed by the Padma Vibhushan in 1991.
Prominent Indian actress Madhuri Dixit was Husain’s muse and the subject of a series of his paintings which he signed simply as ‘Fida’.
Following controversies over his allegedly blasphemous and anti-national work, Husain was subject to death threats. From 2006 until his death in 2011, Husain lived in a self-imposed exile in Doha and London.
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