M. F. Hussain

Legendary Painter M.F Hussain Passes Away

India’s most famous modern art painter M.F Hussain passed away in London on Thursday, June 8th 2011. He was 95 years old. It is believed that the legendary painter succumbed to a heart attack in London’s Royal Brompton Hospital.

Hussian had been living in self -imposed exile in Dubai and London, after he received threats prior to some of his paintings depicting Hindu deities in the nude. M.F Hussain has definitely been one of the most acclaimed painters in the world and managed to secure a position for India on the world map in the field of art and painting.

M.F Hussain was born on September 17th 1915 in Pandharpur in Maharashtra and came to become a well known artist in the 1940’s. In 1947 he joined the Progressive Artist’s Group, founded by Francis Newton Souza. This group comprised of young artists who wanted to break the nationalist traditions established by the Bengal School of Art and wanted to encourage Indian avant-garde engaged at an international level.

Hussain’s first solo exhibition was displayed in Zurich and over the next few years his work became very popular in Europe and the US. The Government of India awarded Hussain the prestigious Padma Shree in 1955 and the Forbes Magazine has called M.F Hussain “The Picasso of India”. Apart from being a painter, Hussain was a film maker too and made many acclaimed films like “Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities” and “Through the Eyes of a Painter”, which won him the Golden Bear award at the Berlin film festival. Hussian’s paintings, sketches and works of art were sought after by the wealthy and elite of society.