Synonymous with contemporary Indian art, the painter was described as the 'Pablo Picasso' of India by Forbes magazine.
Born on September 17, 1915 in Pandharpur in Maharashtra, Husain was mainly a self-taught artist and made ends meet in his initial days by painting cinema hoardings in Mumbai.
Husain had once recounted that "We were paid barely four or six annas per square foot. That is, for a 6x10 feet canvas, we earned a few rupees.
"And apart from the New Theatre distributor, the others did not pay us at all. As soon as I earned a little bit I used to take off for Surat, Baroda and Ahmedabad to paint landscapes".
Image: In this picture taken 14 January 2004, Indian artist Maqbool Fida (M.F) Husain poses for photographers at the inauguration of his exhibition '...and not only 88 of Hussain' at the National Art Gallery in Mumbai.
Text: PTI
Images: AP/AFP
