M F Hussain, India's most celebrated painter living in exile following his controversial works that angered a section of Hindus, is dead, reported Hindustan Times on Thursday. The paper said he died in a London hospital at 2.30 am on Thursday. He died of heart attack, reports said.Maqbool Fida Husain, born September 17, 1915, at Pandharpur, India was on self-imposed exile in Qatar and UK among other places after he got death threats. Venue depicting his works had been ransacked too in India.
According to Forbes magazine, he has been called the "Picasso of India".
Hussain's paintings, especially his works depicting Hindu deities in nude, angered the saffron groups and some of his works had fetched over 2 million US dollars in recent auctions in UK.
He was one of the highest paid Indian painters. In January, 2010, he was offered the citizenship of Qatar, which he accepted. He also made several experimental films with top Bollywood stars. He held his first solo exhibition in 1952 in Zurich.