MF Husain was forced into exile; now his work finds permanent home in Qatar

Doha, Qatar – In the 1930s, a young Maqbool Fida Husain, barely in his 20s, arrived in the Indian financial capital of Mumbai, then known as Bombay, from Indore city 600km (370 miles) away.

His dream was to make films. But struggling to survive in the city, he started painting billboards for the emerging Bollywood film industry.

A decade later, as newly independent India was finding its footing, Husain became a part of a group of artists who laid the foundations of modern art in the country. In the years to come, he went on to become one of the most celebrated and internationally recognised Indian modern artists of the 20th century, often dubbed “India’s Picasso”.

But despite the global renown and the numerous awards – internationally and at home in India – Husain found himself the tar