M. F. Husain

M. F. Husain married Fazila Bibi in 1941. The couple went on to have six children. His wife supported him wholeheartedly through the ups and downs of his career. She died in 1998.

He fell in love with a woman called Maria while he was married to Fazila, and wanted to marry her too. But Maria did not accept his proposal and she moved away from him.

After leaving India in 2006, he spent his later years mainly in London and in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He had a strong desire to return to India but could not do so. He was offered citizenship by Qatar in 2010 which he accepted.

Maqbool Fida Husain was born on 17 September 1915 in Pandharpur, Maharashtra, India, to Zunaib and Fida Husain who hailed from a Sulaymani Bohra family. He lost his mother when he was a very young child; he would grow up to feel the maternal void forever.

He became interested in painting early on, and sought solace in the art. Uncared for at home, he began spending most of his time loitering on the streets from when he was seven or eight years old.

As a young man he learned the art of calligraphy and practiced the Kulfic khat with its geometric forms. He also learned to write poetry.

M. F. Husain moved to Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1935 with the dream of becoming an artist. His initial years at the new city were very difficult. Poor and lonely, he finally managed to get a job of painting billboards and posters for Bollywood movies. During this time he also worked for a toy company designing and building toys.

He struggled for several years before getting his first taste of success. He held his first serious exhibition in 1947 at the Bombay Art Society. India gained independence in August the same year, and the partition of India and Pakistan had a profound impact on his career.

During that time, a group of young artists, including Husain, struggled to break with the nationalist traditions established by the Bengal school of art. The artists wanted to encourage the development of Indian avant-garde art and popularize Indian art on the international scenario. The political chaos and violence following the independence of India proved to the catalyst that led to the forming The Progressive Artist's Group in Bombay in December, 1947.

He gained much fame over the next few years and explored several topics in his paintings. He was as gifted at painting somber topics as he was in creating humorous and caustic works. Some of the major themes he painted on were related to prominent personalities like mother Teresa and M.K. Gandhi, and he drew inspiration from Hindu epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Paintings of Indian urban and rural life were also recurring motifs.

Within a few years he was an internationally acclaimed artist. During the early 1950s he went to Europe for the first time and did a barefoot grand tour. He also held his first solo exhibition in Zurich. While in Europe he met other famous painters such as Picasso, Matisse, and Paul Klee. He was much impressed by Klee’s knowledge of Indian philosophy.

M.F. Husain’s best known and the most controversial work is ‘Bharat Mata’ (Mother India) in which he portrays India as a red-colored nude woman with her arms and legs contorted into the shape of the Indian subcontinent. The painting led to an uproar of protests from organizations like Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and was later sold for Rs 80 lakh in an auction.