Maqbool Fida Husain, India’s one of the best-known artists, died of a heart attack at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London at 2:30 am local time on Thursday.

Mr. Hussain had been in a bad state of health for over a period of one month. Mr Husain, in recent years had expressed his inability to live in his homeland because of numerous death threats and legal cases over his paintings that Hindu groups in the country described as obscene.

Mr Husain left India in 2006, and last year he was offered citizenship of Qatar which he accepted and was spending his time in Qatar and London. Prime Minister Manmohan Sinh responded to the shocking news by saying that Mr Husain’s death is “a national loss.” President Pratibha Patil expressed her grievance in his death by saying that “his death left a void in the world of art.”

Report by Reuben