A new museum celebrates M.F. Husain's legacy

Based on a sketch by Husain himself, the Doha museum celebrates his interdisciplinary practice

- Meera Menezes

'Doll's Wedding'; and (below) Lawh Wa Qalam M.F. Husain Museum.

Three years before his death in 2011, celebrated artist Maqbool Fida Husain penned the following lines on the margins of a sketch, “May I present for the kind glance of Her Highness a concept of ART COMPLEX, my dream to educate and entertain. Being a painter's museum, colours’ play in architectural concept has to be predominant.” Addressed to his patron, Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, chairperson of the Qatar Foundation, the drawing depicted Husain’s vision of a museum dedicated to his two passions: art and cinema.

After well over a decade, the artist's dream has finally come true. On 28 November, Lawh Wa Qalam: M.F. Husain Museum, the world’s first institution dedicated to the modernist artist, opened its portals to the public at the foundation’s Education City campus in Doha. Spread over 3,000 sq. m, Lawh Wa Qalam, which translates to “The Canvas and the Pen,” traces Husain’s artistic trajectory from the 1950s until his death. Kholoud Al-Ali, executive director of community engagement and programming at the Qatar Foundation, says that while Husain is widely recognised across the region, the museum “aims to broaden that awareness and introduce his work to new audiences.”