Mumbai: A set of 25 rare and largely unseen paintings by iconic Indian modernist M.F. Husain is set to go under the hammer in Mumbai on June 12, bringing to light a significant chapter in the artist’s late creative years and an equally dramatic financial saga.
These paintings, created by Husain in 2003 as part of an ambitious series titled “Our Planet Called Earth” (OPCE), had been locked away in a Mumbai bank vault for nearly two decades.
They were seized as part of the proceedings in a major loan default case involving businessman Swarup Srivastava, who originally purchased the works from Husain in 2004.
The OPCE series was conceived by Husain as an attempt to visually narrate the defining moments of the 20th century — from world wars and the space race to cinematic icons and globalisation.
Gallery owner Dadiba Pundole, who witnessed the artist at work during the early stages of the project, recalls Husain’s immense enthusiasm.
“He was so charged. I didn’t know how he would depict an entire century, but he immersed himself completely.”
Husain painted the first canvases at Pundole Art Gallery in Mumbai, stretching massive rolls of canvas across the walls, working with acrylics, charcoal, rags, and brushes.
He later continued the series in a friend’s apartment in Dubai.
Although the artist planned to complete 100 works under the OPCE umbrella, only a fraction materialised before his death in 2011.
In 2004, the 25 works were sold to Swarup Srivastava, a Mumbai-based industrialist and art collector, as part of a larger agreement to acquire the full OPCE series. However, Srivastava later became embroiled in a financial scandal.
In 2006, the CBI launched a probe into a Rs. 235 crore loan taken from NAFED, allegedly meant for iron ore imports but reportedly diverted for real estate and personal use.
By December 2008, a tribunal had ordered the seizure of Swarup Group’s assets, including the 25 Husain paintings, to recover outstanding dues.
The estimated value of the default, with interest, now exceeds Rs. 500 crore.
Following court directives, the artworks were appraised by Pundole’s gallery earlier this year and valued at Rs. 25 crore.
The Bombay High Court has since approved their public auction, rejecting a recent attempt by Srivastava’s group to repurchase the works at the appraised value.
The auction, titled “MF Husain: An Artist’s Vision of the XX Century”, will be hosted by Pundole’s Auction House at Hamilton House in Mumbai. A preview of the paintings will be open to the public from June 8 to 11.
The collection includes powerful thematic works exploring war, technology, cinema, and nature.
Among the subjects are Husain’s signature horses, cinematic icons like Humphrey Bogart, Charlie Chaplin, and Marcel Marceau, as well as a striking portrait of Mahatma Gandhi.
Art theorist Ranjit Hoskote, in the auction catalogue, describes the series as Husain’s sweeping visual anthology of the 20th century — “arguably the most globalised and densely event-packed phase in our planet’s recorded history.”
ALSO READ: Rs 2,000 notes worth Rs 6,181 crore still in circulation: RBI
M.F. Husain, one of India’s most celebrated and controversial artists, left the country in self-imposed exile in 2006, eventually taking Qatari citizenship.
He passed away in London in 2011, never having completed the full 100 works envisioned for the OPCE series.
As anticipation builds for the June auction, the art world awaits the rare opportunity to rediscover a visionary’s take on an entire century — through a collection that has remained hidden from public view for almost 20 years.
