Horses, oil on canvas.

Maqbool Fida Hussain was a student of J J School of Arts, Mumbai (Bombay). Initially he used to earn money by painting cinema hoardings. In 1947 annual exhibition of the Bombay Art Society, his painting "Sunhera Sansar" (Golden World) was shown. This was his first exhibition.

The 1950s and 60s
In 1951 he had his first solo exhibition in Zurich and over the next few years his work was widely seen in Europe and The U.S.A.

In 1966 M. F. Hussain was awarded the "Padmashree" - a civilian award by the government of India. In the following year, he made his first film "Through the eyes of painters". This was shown at the Berlin festival and won a Golden Bear.

The 1970s
Some of his best known works are called the "Sufi" paintings and were first exhibited at Pundole Gallery in 1978.

The 1980s
M. F. Hussain slowly grew into a public figure. His "Shwetambara" exhibition at Jahangir Art Gallery consisted of two halls shrouded in white cloth, whirls of which also shared the floor with torn newspaper. He gave a public performance at Tata Center in Calcutta. On the last day of the exhibition he destroyed his painting by overpainting with white.

The 1990s
His most interesting paintings of this period are the series named after the filmstar Madhuri Dixit.

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