Popular Husain was warm to young art students

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News of M.F. Husain’s death has come as a shock to the Indian art world.

And while the world is still trying to come to terms with his death, artists believe that like all other great artists of the world, Husain will always live through his work.

“I believe an artist never dies. He lives through his work just like nature does and Husain was nature himself. He created his own style. And just the way we speak of Tagore and Raja Ravi Varma, we will always speak of Husain,” said the artist, Mr Akbar Padamsee, who had known M.F. Husain personally for a long time.

Speaking about the 95-year-old artist who passed away in London on Thursday, Mr Padamsee says, “When I started painting, M.F. Husain was already a big name in the art world. He was 15 years senior to me, but despite being popular, he had no airs about him. We were still students at that time, and he would treat us all with a lot of respect.”

Remembering his interactions with Husain, Mr Padamsee says the artist was always open to new ideas and views.

“He would show his paintings to young artists like me and ask us to share our views. He was always very eager to know what people thought of his artwork and was very open to criticism. He was a very warm person, very communicative and very humble. He had no false pride. He would speak to everyone be it a commoner or a famous person,” said Mr Padamsee.

Husain and his works had always been a centre of controversies be it his portrayal of Hindu deities in the nude or in an allegedly sexual manner or Islamic extremists complaining over the Noor-un-Ala-Noor lyrics in the film Meenaxi starring Tabu.

And while certain sections of India always had a problem with the artist, which made Husain take up citizenship of Qatar, he never found himself short of any support.