DOHA – Qatar is set to open Lawh Wa Qalami: M. F. Husain Museum, a Museum dedicated to the life and works of the late artist, honouring the legacy of one of India’s more prolific and influential artists. The launch comes only months after a record-breaking Christie’s auction.

Born in Maharashtra, India, Maqbool Fida Husain got his comeuppance as a calligrapher and painter of, now iconic, Bollywood movie posters. He was also a founding member of the Progressive Artists’ Group, an organisation dedicated to bringing modernity into Indian art after independence from British colonial rule.

Husain spent his later years in London, Dubai and Doha, and were often where his works were commissioned and created. He created thousands of artworks in his lifetime, that span paintings, drawings, silkscreen, film posters, lithographs and even installations.

The museum spans over 3,000 square meters, and “was born from a sketch by Husain himself and realized by architect Martand Khosla,” the foundation said in a statement last week. “A journey that began in Mumbai now finds a home in Doha.”

In March this year, his 1954 painting, ‘Untitled (Gram Yatra),’ sold for a cool $13.8 million at Christie’s auction house in New York, breaking the record of the highest valued Indian artwork ever auctioned.

The museum is set to launch late November this year.

Images courtesy of Qatar Foundation