'Picasso of India' M F Husain dead

From H S Rao
London, Jun 9 (PTI) Legendary Indian painter Maqbool
Fida Husain, popularly known as 'Picasso of India' who earned
both fame and wrath for his paintings, died here today at a
hospital following over a month-long illness.
He was 95.
Husain breathed his last at 2.30 am local time (0700
IST) at the Royal Brompton Hospital where he was admitted
after being in "indifferent health" for the last
one-and-a-half month, family sources told PTI.
It was not immediately clear whether the artist, who
was once a member of Rajya Sabha and had been decorated with
nation's second highest award Padma Vibhushan, had any wish
regarding his last rites.
The family sources said that funeral arrangements for
the celebrated painter are yet to be finalised.
The painter, whose works fetched astronomical sums at
the recent Bonham's auctions - the highest for any Indian
artist, was living in self-exile since 2006 following a series
of legal cases and death threats against him over his
paintings depicting Hindu goddesses in nude.
He accepted Qatari citizenship in 2010 after
surrendering his Indian passport and till the last was
reticent on whether he would return to his homeland.
Born in Pandharpur in Maharashtra on September 17,
1915, Husain courted controversy over his paintings of Hindu
goddesses.
His paintings on goddesses Durga and Saraswati invited
the wrath of Hindu groups which attacked his house in 1998 and
vandalised his art works.
In February 2006, Husain was charged with hurting
sentiments of people because of his nude portraits of Hindu
gods and goddesses.
In the wake of legal challenges and death threats in
his home country, Husain had been living abroad in
self-imposed exile since 2006.
As he had not responded to summons from an Indian
district court in Haridwar, his properties in India were
attached as per court orders and a bailable warrant was issued
against him by the court.
Three of Husain paintings recently topped a Bonham's
auction here, going under the hammer for Rs 2.32 crore with an
untitled oil work in which the legendary artist combined his
iconic subject matters -- horse and woman -- fetching Rs 1.23
crore alone.
In 1952, Husain's first solo exhibition was held at
Zürich and over the next few years, his work was widely seen
in Europe and the US.
In 1955, he was awarded the prestigious Padma Shree.
In 1967, he made his first film, Through the Eyes of a
Painter. It was shown at the Berlin Film Festival and won a
Golden Bear.
Husain was a special invitee along with Pablo Picasso
at the Sao Paulo Biennial in 1971. He was awarded the Padma
Bhushan in 1973 and was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1986.
He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1991.
Between 1990 and 2011 Husain went on to become the
highest paid painter in India.
He also produced and directed a few movies, including
Gaja Gamini with his muse Madhuri Dixit who was the subject of
a series of his paintings which he signed as Fida.