M. F. Husain

Maqbool Fida Husain, known everywhere as M. F.

Husain, walked the streets of Mumbai with a paintbrush in hand and often no shoes on his feet. He loved painting horses that seemed to gallop right off the canvas.

He started as a painter of hand-drawn cinema posters, and became one of the most famous modern painters India has ever known. His art travelled to galleries in London, New York and Paris.

M. F.

Husain was born in 1915 in Pandharpur, Maharashtra. He began his career painting cinema billboards on the streets of Bombay before turning to serious art.

In 1947, along with F. N.

Souza, S. H.

Raza and others, he co-founded the Progressive Artists' Group, which sought a bold new visual language for a newly independent India.

His paintings are known for strong lines, bright colours and Indian themes, including his famous horses, series on the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, and portraits of Mother Teresa and Indira Gandhi. He also directed feature films like 'Gaja Gamini' and 'Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities'.

He was awarded the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan (1991). Some of his later works became the subject of controversy in India, and he spent his final years living abroad.

He died in London in 2011, having become one of the most talked-about Indian artists of his time.