London (PTI): Noted Indian artist M F Husain, who is in self-imposed exile following attacks by fundamentalists over his controversial art works, has said he would return home after finishing his current series of paintings in Dubai and London.
“India is my country and nobody prevents me from returning to my country. I will return as soon as I finish my current series of paintings in Dubai and London,” 92-year-old Husain told newsmen at the Nehru Centre here.
Husain was at the Nehru Centre on Monday evening to attend the opening of an exhibition of prints of Raja Ravi Varma, the 19th century Indian painter.
Husain, who is currently based in Dubai, went into self-exile following attacks from Hindu fundamentalists who alleged that his paintings hurt religious sentiments by depicting deities in the nude.
The Delhi High Court in May lashed out against those who had brought charges of obscenity against the painter, saying “a painter has his own perspective of looking at things and it cannot be basis of initiating criminal proceedings against him.”
Husain, who was born in Pandharpur in Maharashtra, is one of India’s best known artists and was referred to by Forbes magazine as the “Picasso of India”.
Early this year, Husain’s work ‘Battle of Ganga and Jamuna: Mahabharata 12’ fetched USD 1.6 million, setting a world record at Christie’s South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art.
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