Husain @ 110: The Artist Who Carried India to the World

When India thinks of modern art, one name rises above all: Maqbool Fida Husain. In 2025, as the world marks his 110th birth anniversary, DRS Arts Company® presents Husain @ 110  | an once-in-a-lifetime exhibition that celebrates the artist who gave Indian art its global voice.

A Cultural Milestone

• 110 editions, one legend: A historic collection of 110 works, including authenticated serigraphs, reproductions, and editions that reflect Husain’s varied range.
• Husain’s gift: To make art approachable through editions. To make it understood through his colours, compositions, and forms, through which modern and contemporary art entered society’s rhythm and became part of its daily life.
• Global context, Indian heart: From epics like the Mahabharata to cinema, from womanhood to astrology, from politics to faith, Husain’s art held a mirror to a changing India and carried those stories to the world.
• Rann Utsav as stage: Hosted amidst the white desert of Kutch, a cultural festival that draws global audiences, this exhibition ensures that Husain’s legacy reaches beyond art circles into the generations of India and the world.

Curator’s voice

“His subjects were never bound by geography. They travelled from India to the world, touching civilizations and continents, holding both the weight of memory and the lightness of imagination. His passion and commitment ensured that he became not just an  artist but the artist who broke boundaries again and again. And what better way than by celebrating the man who carried Indian art to the world and brought the world back to Indian art.”   — Chaitya Dhanvi Shah, Curator DRS Arts Company®

Exhibition details

Preview: 1 – 6 October 2025, DRS Arts Company, Ahmedabad
Exhibition: 23 October 2025 – 4 March 2026, Rann Utsav, Dhordo, Kutch

Curator’s Note by Chaitya Dhanvi Shah

Maqbool Fida Husain. A name that lives beyond time, a presence that still fills the walls of Indian art, and a memory that continues to walk with us.

As a curator and a gallerist, what I admire most about him is his endless experimentation. His research and execution covered an astonishing range of subjects from divinity to cinema. That range itself is rare. But Husain did not stop at variety. He celebrated womanhood and grace, the colours of ritual and culture, the dialogue of faiths, the raw pulse of animals, and the eternal memory of epics.

To achieve this is never easy. It demands discipline, dedication, curiosity, and a love for Indian art that never rests. His passion and commitment ensured that he became not just an artist but the artist who broke boundaries again and again.

That was Husain’s gift: to make art approachable. To make it understood. Through his colours, compositions, and forms, modern and contemporary art entered society’s rhythm, becoming part of its daily pulse.

He was among the first Indian artists to see beyond the canvas. Husain realised that for art to truly live, it must travel. It must multiply. Which is why he pioneered serigraphs, reproductions, lithographs, and editions. This was Husain’s quiet revolution, making Indian art democratic, making it accessible, ensuring that an Indian story could hang on the wall of anyone, anywhere.

In his lines and colours, he introduced thought. In his symbols and iconography, he carried faith and philosophy. His subjects were never bound by geography. They travelled from India to the world, touching civilizations and continents, holding both the weight of memory and the lightness of imagination.

That is why we celebrate Husain at 110. Not simply to mark his years, but to honour his legacy. Even if some may forget, his art will not be forgotten. His paintings, serigraphs, and series will continue to live, to be celebrated, for centuries to come.

At DRS Arts Company, we have always believed in honouring art, respecting artists, and celebrating Indian traditions and culture. And what better way than by celebrating the man who carried Indian art to the world and brought the world back to Indian art.

On his 110th birth anniversary, we bow to the legacy of Maqbool Fida Husain, the artist, the storyteller, the visionary.