Untitled 1966

M.F. Husain made this painting with oil on canvas, and looking at it I can almost feel the thick, buttery paint between my fingers! The painting comes into being through color, stroke and intuition. The dark green and brown background makes me think of a kind of primordial soup from which jagged white figures emerge. A black orb hovers, maybe a thought bubble or a distant planet? The orange streaks—are they veins, or fiery emotions struggling to break free? It is clear from the paintwork that there is something simmering beneath the surface. I can imagine Husain, brush in hand, wrestling with form and feeling. The canvas becomes a site of inquiry. His painting makes me think of Picasso and the expressionists who were also trying to represent the inner life with such urgency. I imagine them all in conversation, pushing each other, seeing what the paint can do, and what worlds they can make with it.