When Lawh Wa Qalam: M. F. Husain Museum opened in Qatar late last year, it gave the master of modern art a tribute that was long due. It also filled Husain’s patrons in India and across the world with a deep sense of delight. Husain left India in 2006 after multiple court cases and controversies relating to his paintings, and went into a self-imposed exile, first Dubai and later accepted Qatari citizenship in 2010. He died in 2011 in London.
Dedicated to the life and work of one of the world’s most celebrated artists, the posthumous museum is designed by Delhi-based architect Martand Khosla and stands as a monument for Husain’s life and work. For Khosla, who has built several significant institutional and residential projects across India and Asia, the artist’s sketch of the museum was the anchor. “Husain’s sketch was an important starting point — a springboard to begin the architectural process — and a gesture towards a building rather than a fixed instruction. While the sketch articulates a blue volume that clearly sets the blue house apart, the internal architectural volumes of the museum were developed independently, emerging from a collaborative process around the space and the role of a museum in contemporary society,” said Khosla, founder of the award-winning architecture studio, Romi Khosla Design Studios. Apart from the sketch, the Amdavad ni Gufa, in Ahmedabad, also served as a direct reference for Khosla. He said: “While I have known Husain’s body of work through my life, for this project I looked closely at his architectural collaborations, particularly the Husain–Doshi Gufa in Ahmedabad and the Modi House. Both projects were shaped by Husain’s direct involvement and contain material and formal cues that offer insight into his architectural thinking. Together, these readings — alongside Husain’s original sketch — provided a starting point for an architectural language for the museum.”
While Husain’s sketch of Lawh Wa Qalam, translating to ‘The Canvas and The Pen’, did not explicitly point towards blue ceramic tiles, Khosla and his team’s readings of it led them to consider architectural traditions of Central Asia and their influence across South Asia. “This prompted broader discussions around regional identity within architecture, eventually leading us to ceramic tiles as a material choice for the exterior façade. To us, the material carried both cultural memory and contemporary expression,” explained Khosla, describing the process as unique.
The museum’s collection includes over 150 original works and personal objects that are in the custody of Qatar Foundation, and that aim to tell the story of Husain’s career from 1950 to his final works in Doha. Noof Mohammed, curator of the museum and project manager of the art portfolio in Qatar Foundation, shared: “Husain’s artworks are inseparable from his life story. Our goal is to present his artistic journey through this museum by focusing on the pivotal decades of his career and the works and motifs that defined his practice. This broader narrative is supported by archival materials, films, sketches and the Seeroo fi al ardh installation, which together reveal Husain’s deep engagement with the legacies and achievements of religions, civilisations, and significant political and cultural figures throughout history.”
Beginning with his humble origins painting cinema billboards in Mumbai, the exhibition follows Husain’s expansion into a remarkable range of media, including painting, sculpture, photography, and cinema, each reflecting his restless experimentation and deep engagement with the world around him. Subsequent galleries explore Husain’s enduring fascination with spirituality and world religions that reveal a profound respect for the philosophies, symbols, and narratives of Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, and other belief systems, which he often wove together into a singular, expansive visual language.
Mohammed made sure the curation touched upon the most significant points in his life, especially his association with Progressive Artists’ Group, which he co-founded in Mumbai in 1947 and which was central to defining modern Indian art after Independence as it rejected colonial academic styles, embraced global modernism, and championed artistic freedom, experimentation, and a new visual language rooted in a modern, confident India. “By showing these early works alongside examples of his film, drawings, and sculptures, we establish the intellectual and creative foundations that shaped him throughout his career. Against this backdrop, his Gulf period is presented as the moment where these lifelong ideas came into full expression. In Doha, Husain was given an extraordinary level of freedom, time, and support, allowing him to produce some of the most ambitious works of his career,” said Mohammed, informing that his Qatar years are not presented as an isolated final chapter, but as the culmination of decades of thinking, searching, and reinventing himself.
Seeking to reconnect with his Sulaymani heritage in Yemen and Islamic cultures, he created several important pieces in Qatar that fall under his Arab civilisation series, including Zuljanah Horse (2007), Battle of Badr (2008), and Call of the Desert (2010), which are all on display at the museum. Connecting with people across generations and geographies, the museum plans to offer dedicated outreach programmes for schools and colleges, including activities and workshops in art, calligraphy, photography, film, and other creative mediums explored by Husain, providing students with hands-on learning experiences inspired by his work.