Maqbool Fida Husain

Maqbool Fida Husain is one of the greatest modern painters of India. Known to finish a work in one sitting, Husain's lines were drawn directly with a paintbrush, making no room for error once applied. He was a founding member of the Progressive Artists’ Group, which formed in 1947 and looked to combine influences from Indian history with the European avant-garde, a synthesis that is evident in Husain’s paintings.

In 1948, Husain visited the India Independence Exhibition with Francis Newton Souza and was struck by the classical Indian sculptures and traditional miniature paintings from the Rajput and Pahari courts. The artist describes the influence the exhibition was to have on his work "...it was humbling. I came back to Bombay and in '48, I came out with five paintings, which was the turning point in my life. That was the breaking point... to come out of the influence of the British academic painting and the Bengal Revivalist School." (Husain quoted in The Illustrated Weekly of India, December 4-10, 1983).

In addition to Indian mythology, animal symbolism is a recurring theme across Husain’s canvases. The horse was a particularly powerful motif in his oeuvre; the image of the horse is a classic icon in Indian art history, from early miniatures to contemporary sculptures. Husain kept returning to this subject matter throughout his life and his horses are depicted as strong, free-willed creatures.

Lamps and the abstract female form also featured heavily in Husain works. Lamps held a personal significance for Husain, speaking to his special relationship with his grandfather Abdul, a lamp-repairer and tinsmith. Following the death of Husain’s mother when he was less than two years old, it was his grandfather who raised him until he died, when Husain was aged six. “It took me some time to realize just what grandfather’s death meant. Everything seemed to be finished for me.” (M. F. Husain quoted by Y. Dalmia, The Making of Modern Indian Art: The Progressives, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2001, p. 111). Abstract female forms throughout Husain’s oeuvre reveal the artist’s longing for his mother whose face he could not recall.

Husain’s first-hand encounters with the paintings of Paul Klee, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso during his travels to Europe in 1953 had a decisive impact on his art. His Indian sensibility merged with newly experienced aspects of European Modernism, forming a distinctive pictorial language. Despite the pervasive influence of European modernism on Husain, he nonetheless remained committed to his South Asian roots. Husain passed away in 2011; “I'm an Indian-origin painter. I will remain so to my last breath.” (M .F. Husain quoted in 'Indian artist M F Husain dies in London', Dawn, 9 June 2011).

Over the course of his lengthy career, Husain was awarded the Padma Shri (1966), the Padma Bhushan (1973), the Padma Vibhushan (1991) and the Raja Ravi Varma Award (2007). His paintings regularly perform well at auction, with Sotheby’s setting the world record for a Husain work in September 2024 with Untitled (Reincarnation), which realized $3,223,207.