About the exhibition:

The Rooted Nomad: MF Husain is a unique immersive exhibition which arrives in Doha after its premiere at the Magazzini Del Sale, Venice, during the 60th Venice Biennale 2024. Celebrating one of India’s foremost Modernist painters, the exhibition boasts a one-of-a-kind experience, without physical works, but unfolding instead through projection mapping and digital animation developed by Visioni Srl, transforming Husain’s art into a living, multisensory encounter.

MF Husain (1913–2011), born in Maharashtra, India, was a self-taught artist, shaped not by formal instruction but by walking the streets and immersing himself in the milieu, absorbing the essence of India through the vividness and diversity of everyday life. His practice defied confinement within geocultural definitions. Guided by an idiosyncratic spirit and an insatiable curiosity, Husain forged a new artistic language that dissolved barriers between fine art and craft, between the serene and the spectacular. His work embraced global influences yet remained deeply rooted in India’s cultural fabric, drawing upon its mythology, folk traditions, and living rhythms.

The title, The Rooted Nomad, reflects this duality and Husain’s simultaneous desire to remain rooted while embracing the freedom of a wanderer. It speaks to his profound connection with India’s civilisational ethos alongside his lifelong journeys, both physical and intellectual. Through immersive storytelling, visitors are invited into the entwined worlds of his art and life, tracing his travels across cities and landscapes, his encounters with cinema, poetry, music, and performance, and his unwavering commitment to portraying India as a cultural mosaic.

By situating Husain on his own terms, the exhibition celebrates his syncretic vision. He absorbed lessons from Western Modernism but transformed them into something uniquely his own, inseparable from the spirit of India. This Doha presentation offers audiences an intimate opportunity to engage with Husain’s boundless imagination and his lifelong devotion to art that continues to inspire across generations.