About M.F. Husain

M.F. HUSAIN was a painter and film director born in Pandharpur in 1915. He was best known for his brightly colored works depicting horses, urban landscapes, and nude Hindu goddesses.

 

He employed a style influenced by Cubism that was intended to disrupt the nationalist traditions of the Bengal School. His nonconformist attitude also affected his choice of subject matter. Though raised Muslim, he embraced other religions’ iconic images in a new light, for which he received backlash. His non-traditional representations of Hindu deities led to lawsuits filed against him by the Indian government for the defamation of Hindu culture. 

 

He was forced into exile in 2006, and spent the remainder of his life dividing his time between Qatar and the United Kingdom. Husain died in London in 2011. Lawh Wa Qalam: M.F. Husain Museum opened in Doha, Qatar in 2025.