“When he was painting, nothing could disturb him."
A collection of 25 rare paintings by celebrated Indian artist MF Husain will go to auction on June 12 in Mumbai.
The works, painted more than two decades ago, have never been publicly displayed.
They were seized in 2008 from businessman Guru Swarup Srivastava over an alleged loan default and have since remained locked in bank vaults.
Dadiba Pundole, director of Pundole Art Gallery, said: “It’s like the paintings have come full circle.”
Husain, often referred to as the “Picasso of India,” used the gallery as a studio while creating many of these works.
They form part of an ambitious but unfinished 100-painting series that explored the defining cultural and political shifts of the 20th century.
Husain died in 2011, aged 95.
The series, titled MF Husain: An Artist’s Vision of the XX Century, captures the century’s dramatic transformations through Husain’s vibrant acrylics.
The paintings reflect on global conflict, technological change, and social upheaval.
One shows an unlikely group in conversation on a bench, symbolising Husain’s call for peaceful dialogue among global powers.
Another contrasts Charlie Chaplin with a rocket launch, highlighting disparities in social priorities.
Pundole estimates the collection could fetch up to £21 million.
The auction follows the record-breaking sale of another Husain painting, Untitled (Gram Yatra), which sold for £10.6 million at a Christie’s auction in New York earlier in 2025, making it the most expensive Indian artwork ever sold.
Husain began the 25-painting series in the early 2000s with intense focus.
Pundole said: “When he was painting, nothing could disturb him. It didn’t matter what was happening around him.”
In 2004, he sold the works to Srivastava as the first instalment of a billion-rupee art deal. At the time, the agreement was hailed as India’s biggest art transaction, and it propelled Srivastava, then a relatively unknown figure, into national headlines.
Kishore Singh, author of MF Husain: The Journey of a Legend, said:
“He [Husain] wasn’t jealous of fellow artists, but he was competitive.”
Singh noted that Husain’s deal followed closely after Tyeb Mehta’s Kali set a new auction record in 2002, selling for 15 million rupees.
But the art deal soon became entangled in legal controversy.
In 2006, India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) launched a probe into Srivastava’s businesses, alleging that he and his associates had diverted loans from a government-backed agricultural body into mutual funds, real estate, and artwork.
Srivastava and his company deny all charges. The case remains ongoing.
In 2008, a tribunal allowed the agricultural lender to seize one billion rupees in assets from Srivastava, including the Husain paintings.
A court ruling earlier this year finally cleared the way for the artworks to be sold.
In a 2018 interview with journalist Tara Kaushal, Srivastava reflected on the failed deal with Husain.
He said:
“I had planned to pay Husain for the rest of the paintings by selling the first 25.”
“But legal complications meant that, when Husain called me in 2008 saying the paintings were ready in London and Paris, and to pick them up at the agreed price, my funds were not ready. He understood.”
Asked why MF Husain would sell such an important body of work to someone largely unknown in India’s art world, Pundole said:
“He didn’t care. As long as his paintings were sold.”
The 25 paintings showcase Husain’s distinctive style and his bold engagement with key moments of the 20th century.
Scenes of war, poverty, and migration sit alongside depictions of cultural icons and industrial progress.
His unfinished series remains a striking, unresolved chapter in his eventful career. After years out of sight, the paintings are finally re-emerging into public view.
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