How a sketch by the divisive Indian artist MF Husain inspired Doha’s latest museum

With Friday's opening of Lawh Wa Qalam: MF Husain Museum in Doha, Qatar becomes home to a global first – a museum dedicated to Maqbool Fida Husain, one of the most influential and controversial modernist artists of the 20th century.

This new space marks the rare convergence of art, architecture, memory and reinvention for a region whose cultural ambitions have steadily grown over the past decade. The opening also marks Husain’s final homecoming.

Set within Education City under the aegis of Qatar Foundation, Lawh Wa Qalam (which translates as “tablet and pen”) is a 3,000-square metre museum that showcases Husain’s fluid, multidisciplinary creativity. The design is based on a sketch by the artist – a museum he imagined, but never lived to see.

Inside, more than 35 works from the artist's prolific final decade are on permanent display, including the monumental Arab Civilisation series commissioned by Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, mother of Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim, as well as Husain's last multimedia installation Seeroo Fi Al-Ardh (Journey on Earth). Together, they showcase the artist’s last act: restless, expansive and deeply engaged with Arab cultural and historical motifs.

The museum’s official opening on November 28 was a milestone not only for Qatar, but also for the wider Gulf, which has been steadily positioning itself as a global centre for the arts.

Creative refuge

The Lawh Wa Qalam: MF Husain Museum in Education City, Doha. Photo: Qatar Foundation

Husain’s long relationship with Doha was shaped by circumstance and curiosity. After threats and legal challenges in India over his depictions of Hindu deities, he left the country in 2006. Four years later, he accepted Qatari citizenship.