MF Husain was born on September 17, 1915, in Pandharpur, Maharashtra of India. He moved to Mumbai (then Bombay) at an early age and began his career by painting billboards for cinemas. He was one of the founding members of the avant-garde Progressive Artist Group, formed in 1947. The legendary artist passed away on June 9, 2011 in London, UK.

Maqbool Fida Husain better known as M. F. Husain[2] (17 September 1915 – 9 June 2011)[3][4] was an Indian painter, regarded as India’s most prolific, controversial, and world-renowned artists.[5] He was a modern Indian painter of international acclaim, and a founding member of Bombay Progressive Artists' Group.

Husain is associated with Indian modernism in the 1940s. His early association with the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group used modern technique, and was inspired by the "new" India after the partition of 1947. His narrative paintings, executed in a modified Cubist style, can be caustic and funny as well as serious and somber. His themes—sometimes treated in series—include topics as diverse as Gandhi, Mother Teresa, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the British Raj, and motifs of Indian urban and rural life.

Maqbool Fida Husain better known as M. F. Husain[2] (17 September 1915 – 9 June 2011)[3][4] was an Indian painter, regarded as India’s most prolific, controversial, and world-renowned artists.[5] He was a modern Indian painter of international acclaim, and a founding member of Bombay Progressive Artists' Group.

Husain is associated with Indian modernism in the 1940s. His early association with the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group used modern technique, and was inspired by the "new" India after the partition of 1947. His narrative paintings, executed in a modified Cubist style, can be caustic and funny as well as serious and sombre. His themes—sometimes treated in series—include topics as diverse as Gandhi, Mother Teresa, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the British Raj, and motifs of Indian urban and rural life.

Husain's later works have stirred controversy, which included nude portrayals of Hindu deities, and a nude portrayal of Bharat Mata. Right-wing organizations called for his arrest, and several lawsuits were filed against him for hurting religious sentiments. He remained in a self-imposed exile from 2006 until his death in 2011, accepting Qatari citizenship in 2008.

Husain's later works have stirred controversy, which included nude portrayals of Hindu deities, and a nude portrayal of Bharat Mata. Right-wing organizations called for his arrest, and several lawsuits were filed against him for hurting religious sentiments. He remained in a self-imposed exile from 2006 until his death in 2011, accepting Qatari citizenship in 2008.

For the first time, an art exhibition featuring works of Indian art maestro Maqbool Fida Husain will be held in Bangladesh. The weeklong exhibition titled, “MF Husain Journey in Graphics”, will begin on Wednesday at Galleri Kaya in the capital's Uttara. It will feature as many as 59 original prints of the master painter, which are his important graphic works, said organisers at a press conference at The Daily Star Centre yesterday. Goutam Chakraborty, director of Galleri Kaya, said the exhibition will showcase a selection of Husain's artworks done in serigraph, lithograph and silk screen on paper. The prints have been collected from Indian art collectors Ganesh Pratap Singh and Vinay M Sheath, Goutam said. This will be the first exhibition of Husain's works in Bangladesh.

And that came easily for, arguably, India’s most popular artist. In spite of his advanced age, the royal family of Qatar commissioned him to paint an epic series on the Arabic civilisation for the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha. And in London, the Mittal family—which had gifted the city the controversial ArcelorMittal Orbit ahead of the Olympic Games—seized the opportunity to ask him to paint a tribute to Indian civilisation.

That should have been enough to keep most artists busy, but Husain, missing familiar places and faces in India, was known to have painted extempore at the homes and offices of a large number of Indian families, demanding nothing more than affection and a home-cooked meal in exchange for a hastily improvised drawing or painting. He would appear at the doughty Dorchester, where the staff invoiced him for scribbling figures on its pristine damask napkins. In Mayfair, where he had a studio, the white-haired and often barefoot artist became a familiar sight for Londoners bemused that he should carry a large paintbrush with him as an indication of his profession. At the venerable Victoria & Albert Museum, like scores of art students on any given day, he could be seen sketching on his pad at the Ironwork Gallery, unaware of the chuckles he inspired among visitors ignorant of his fame but conscious only of his age.

It is from this phase of his life, spent in Doha, Dubai and, in particular, London, that a number of ‘last’ works by the artist are gaining currency.

Most, understandably, are not for sale; they are the legacy of families who befriended him in an alien city and extended warmth and hospitality. Though Husain was wealthy—if his collection of sports cars and bikes is any indication, he was extremely rich—money was something he rarely carried on him, so his art became the currency of exchange for favours rendered. The right-wing parties that had hounded him in India enjoy the support of many non-resident Indians, but in London Husain seemed not so much offensive as vulnerable. Secretly, they clamoured for his works, so even though prices were falling back home—or, at least, they were failing to keep pace with modernists SH Raza, FN Souza, Tyeb Mehta and VS Gaitonde—his popularity never waned. Because he still had a large inventory of unsold canvases, he was not required to paint to eke out an existence, however luxurious. The sale of those works—this writer is privy to some of them—now afforded him the comfort to paint in a manner and style of his choosing.

Some of these ‘last’ works, the ones commissioned by Usha Mittal, will now go to the V&A’s gallery 38A for a viewing as ‘Master of Modern Indian Painting’ from May 28 to July 27. According to a spokesperson, even though Husain is “not very well-known” in London, “this exhibition will rectify that”. The V&A had been in conference with the Mittals about a number of projects, and it was natural that the First Family of Steel should suggest the Husain exhibits as a starting point for that venture.