M.F. Husain, the controversial Indian painter who fled his homeland and accepted Qatari citizenship last year, has died, media reports say.
Husain, 95, arguably India’s best painter, left his home country in 2006 after facing obscenity charges for nude paintings of Hindu deities produced in the 1970s.
He passed away at a hospital in London early Thursday morning, the Hindustan Times reported.
In Qatar, Husain worked on a project involving the history of Arab civilization at the behest of the the nation’s first lady, Sheikha Moza bint Nasser al Misned.
Qatar offered Husain the rare gift of citizenship in February 2010, which he accepted.
Mid-Day, a London publication, reported:
Sources close to the family told MiD DAY that his body would not be brought to India for burial, and that his last rites would be conducted in London.
