MF Husain: More about the exhibition

This immersive experience is a moving declaration of the eclectic practices that Maqbool Fida Husain embraced throughout his career. It highlights his innovative techniques and the evolution of Indian modernism.

Husain’s storytelling cut across a range of mediums, establishing him as a defining voice for his generation. Rather than following a chronological order, the narrative unfolds as a series of moments and journeys from Husain’s own life and artistic practice.

These elements are interwoven and anchored by his own voice, revealing not only the artist’s story but also the worlds he explored and articulated through his work. When Husain accepted Qatari citizenship in 2010, it was not an act of defeat but a continuation of his nomadic life, one in which he carried the Indian ethos with him.

Qatar marks a poignant chapter in his journey, wherein he demonstrated remarkable resilience and astounding productivity, undertaking ambitious projects on both the Arab and Indian civilisations. As he famously said, “It is so important to be rooted, but also to be free.”

One of India's most iconic contemporary artists, Maqbool Fida Husain (1915–2011) continues to demand critical global attention to the sheer expanse of his multi-dimensional practice extending over seven decades. India’s ancient civilisational past and its evolving future both unfold in Husain’s work across an array of media and formats. Drawing from mythologies, shared histories, and literature, Husain articulated a unified vision of a modern India through a lexicon of symbolic imagery anchored in a secular artistic sensibility.

Husain grew up in a multicultural society. He was born into a Muslim family in the predominantly Vaishnava Hindu town of Pandharpur. He marvelled at the Muharram processions, Ram Leela plays, madrassa lessons, and Urdu poetry. His artistic responses were shaped and refined by the consciousness of a fluid, unsettled populace . He belonged to a generation which witnessed the subcontinent both as a colonised nation with its geographical expanse and an independent nation state, confronted with new anxieties and challenges and on the verge of a massive political and cultural transformation.

His travelling nature manifested a pressing impulse to be on the streets, enjoying tea at roadside cafes while reading the newspaper. He wandered through the alleys and dense lanes of the inner city, witnessing and fathoming the complex and layered India that for him was a world in itself. Much has been written about his ‘walking barefoot across the nation’ and his identification with the labouring masses of India who toil daily without shoes. Along the way, Husain immersed himself in reclaiming the essence of an eternal India and its rich civilisation , and this awareness transformed into an expansive creative language.

The notion of ‘rooted nomad’ may seem paradoxical at first, yet it perfectly encapsulates the spirit of Husain’s extraordinary character. This immersive journey intertwines these seemingly opposing ideas, crafting a vibrant panorama that delves into the rich complexity of MF Husain’s remarkable persona.