M F Hussain Hussain Dead

Maqbool Fida Hussain, the celebrated painter who is also called the Picasso Of India, passed away at 2:30am on Thursday, at the ripe old age of 95.

A friend of the artist is said to have informed the media that the artist breathed his last at the royal Brompton Hospital, London. His lawyer, Akhil Sibal, later confirmed his death.

Shabana Azmi is reported to have stated that she is "deeply, deeply saddened by his heath", and described him as an "iconoclastic painter, a wonderful human and a very close friend."

M F Hussain rose from a billboard artist to one of the country's most renowned painters and enjoyed immense popularity till his illustration of a nude Bharat Mata earned him the wrath of denizens across India.

In 2006, his paintings of nude godesses drew the ire of Hindu activists, who had threatened to kill him. He imposed an exile upon himself and has been living in Dubai ever since.

He had made headlines in the recent past for expressing a desire to sketch certain Indian actresses in the nude.

M F Hussain began hogging the limelight in 1940s as a member of an artists' group headed by Francis Newton Souza. His works went on to become a status symbol for the elite and the price tags on his works soon sported astronomical figures.

Horses and women were his iconic subjects, and it has been reported that his last painting that contained both the subjects was sold for Rs. 1.23 crores.