MF Husain's last 9 paintings to be exhibited in London

The last nine paintings that MF Husain made will be displayed at London's Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) at a month-long show starting May 28. These are a series on India, the variety of its culture and civilisation that the acclaimed artist had been commissioned to paint by Laxmi Mittal in 2008 and had been working on until his death in 2011. The Mittals have loaned the works to the V&A, where Husain completed a residency in 1990.

Husain had left India in 2006, hounded out by protests and lawsuits by elements who claimed to be "hurt" by his "obscene" paintings of goddesses, attacked his exhibitions and threatened to harm him. He moved to Doha, accepting Qatar nationality in 2010. But his heart remained in India.

The Indian Civilization series at the V&A, also called Vision of India through Mohenje Daro to Mahatma Gandhi shows just how much his thoughts lay with India in his last days.

The eight very large triptychs, measuring 12 feet wide by six feet high, at the exhibition, "MF Husain: Master of Modern Indian Painting", depict India's cities, its festivals, iconic events and historic events, along with memories from the artist's own life. The ninth is a painting of Ganesha which marks the symbolic beginning of the series.

Husain painted these in London, where he lived part of the year. Each panel explores a different theme, which Husain had called 'a museum without walls', says the V&A media release. The artist's initial intention was to paint 96 panels; unfortunately he died before he could achieve this.