Adieu to MF Husain

Painter Maqbool Fida Husain, who was admitted in a hospital in downtown London with acute breathing trouble, died of cardio-respiratory failure in the wee hours of Thursday, say sources. The painter had been in the hospital for the past two days for breathing trouble. He was 95 years old.

“He  had a cough that refused to go away. There were concerns about his health since he was also losing weight rapidly. The family shifted him to London when he started complaining about chest pains. He developed breathing problems by the time he was brought in to the hospital. His condition worsened and he never recovered,” says an art collector who’s close to  the Husain family.

Contrary to popular belief, the painter’s last rites will be performed in London and his body won’t be bought back to India. “His last rites will be performed in London and there is no question of bringing him to India,” a source close to the family added saying that Husain always pined to come back to Mumbai ever since he externed himself to Dubai following an uproar by a political party over his paintings that depicted an Indian Goddess in the nude (the incident happened in 1996). Husain, according to his close friends, continued to receive threats from Hindu groups even while he was in self-imposed exile since 2006. In January, 2010, Husain was offered the citizenship of Qatar, which he accepted.