MF Husain: India court orders seizure of ‘offensive’ paintings

The art gallery said in a statement that they are “reviewing the situation” and “trying to follow developments”.

Maqbool Fida Husain was one of India’s biggest painters and was called “Picasso of India” but his art often stirred controversy in the country. His works have sold for millions of dollars.

His career was marked by controversy when he was accused of obscenity and denounced by hardline Hindus for a painting of a nude goddess.

In 2006, Husain publicly apologised for his painting, Mother India. It showed a nude woman kneeling on the ground creating the shape of the Indian map. He left the country the same year and lived in self-imposed exile in London until his death.

In 2008, India’s Supreme Court refused to launch criminal proceedings against Husain, external, saying that his paintings were not obscene and nudity was common in Indian iconography and history.

The court had then dismissed an appeal against a high court ruling that quashed criminal proceedings against Husain in the cities of Bhopal, Indore and Rajkot, condemning the rise of a “new puritanism” in India.

The court also rejected calls for Husain, then in exile, to be summoned and asked to explain his paintings, which were accused of outraging religious sentiments and disturbing national integrity.

“There are so many such subjects, photographs and publications. Will you file cases against all of them? What about temple structures? Husain’s work is art. If you don’t want to see it, don’t see it. There are so many such art forms in temple structures,” the top court said.

Many believe there is a rising tide of illiberalism against artistic expression in India.

In October the Bombay High Court reprimanded the customs department, external for seizing artworks by renowned artists FN Souza and Akbar Padamsee on the grounds that they were “obscene material.”

The court ruled that not every nude or sexually explicit painting qualifies as obscene and ordered the release of seven seized artworks.

Follow BBC News India on Instagram, external, YouTube,, external Twitter, external and Facebook, external.