Untitled (Alexander the Great)

Maqbool Fida Husain has long been fascinated by history, civilisation and the heroic epics that transcend the centuries, as evidenced from his earliest explorations of the Mahabharata and Ramayana to works referencing the mythologies and great battles of Western Civilisation, exemplified in the monumental paintings Three Graces and Portrait of the 20th Century. According to Chester Herwitz, "It has been a long endeavor of Husain to pictorially engage the epics. To make the epics speak and speak again in contemporary terms. One device he uses in this work is to dramatically shift back and forth in time, intermixing props and figures often with a keen wit." (C. Herwitz, M.F. Husain, Let History Cut Across Me Without Me, New Delhi, 1993, p. 5)

In this painting, the battle scene is led by Alexander the Great. Set against a palette of blood red and black, the dark, bold colours enhance his military prowess and blood-thirsty ruthlessness. The overall composition is dramatic, full of movement and energy. Through this painting, we are reminded that the notion of rasa (aesthetic rapture) plays an important role in appreciating the great artistry of Husain whose works were often inspired by the inter-disciplines of music, dance, sculpture, and film. Deeply rooted in an Indian ethos and vernacular, Husain understood classical Sanskrit notions on aesthetics at its most fundamental level: that to know how to paint, one must not only comprehend form but movement and music. Herwitz notes, "We may miss something if we do not see in these paintings an amalgam of many art forms enriching each other. There is to be found dance poetry theater music literature film." (C. Herwitz, M.F. Husain, Let History Cut Across Me Without Me, Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi, 1993, p. 4)