Inside Doha’s new M.F Husain museum: a visionary artist's sketch comes to life
Doha has opened the M.F. Husain Museum, a vibrant new space based on a sketch the Indian modernist artist created in 2008. Designed by architect Martand Khosla, the museum displays six decades of Husain’s work, from early pieces to his later creations inspired by Arab civilisation.
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00:00He grew up in India, but his references went beyond South Asia.
00:05A new art museum has landed in Doha to celebrate the life and work of Indian modernist artist
00:11Maqbool Fidda Hussain.
00:13What began as a sketch Hussain drew in 2008 is now a landmark.
00:17A vivid blue museum with cutouts made of Arabic letters and a minaret inspired tower
00:23is the closest one can get to walking inside an artist's mind.
00:27Delhi-based architect Martin Khosla was tasked with the challenge of bringing Hussain's sketch to life.
00:34And it was from there that we had to start to extrapolate an architectural language,
00:38build it into a program while keeping it, the design of the building, keeping it true to the sketch.
00:46After three years in the making, Laohul Qalam, the MF Hussain Museum, is now open to the public.
00:53Laohul Qalam translates to the canvas and the pen.
00:57Six decades of the artist's works are on display, including many of his later pieces,
01:02inspired from Arab civilization and Islamic culture.
01:06While a household name in India, the hope is this new space in Doha's education city
01:11will introduce his work to an even wider audience.
01:14I'm based in India and not just me but an entire generation or several generations have grown up with MF Hussain's work.
01:22So I think almost everybody is well versed with his work because his works were in our airports and convention halls
01:31and paintings in people's homes and postcards and calendars and prints.
01:36So, you know, he was everywhere.
01:38Born in 1913, Hussain grew up in a time of profound change in India.
01:43A founding member of the Progressive Artist Group in Bombay, he championed freedom of expression
01:48and drew inspiration from the country's religions and social fabric.
01:52Besides him being a legend, he started from nothing.
01:55So he's a man of dreams, he's a man who stuck to his passion.
02:00One of his statements said that you shouldn't paint because you need to get money but you should paint because you have to.
02:08That means art comes from the heart and that's what that man stood for.
02:13It's a sentiment shared by actor Taha Shah Badusha, a rising name in the Indian film industry with nearly 2 million followers online.
02:21Everybody is creative nowadays and art is such a thing that satisfies you from within.
02:25Some of Hussain's controversial works resulted in threats leading to a period of self-imposed exile in Qatar before his death in 2011.
02:34Now his legacy continues in this new museum, paying homage to a barefoot artist widely regarded as a revolutionary force in Indian art, often even called India's Picasso.
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