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“My horses, like lightning, cut across many horizons. From the battlefield of Karbala to Bankura terracotta, from the Chinese Tse Pei Hung horse to St. Marco’s horse, from ornate armoured Duldul to [the] challenging white of Ashwamed... the cavalcade of my horses is multidimensional.”
- M F HUSAIN

The horse was both a deeply personal and universally resonant symbol for M F Husain, and arguably the most iconic motif in his vast... “My horses, like lightning, cut across many horizons. From the battlefield of Karbala to Bankura terracotta, from the Chinese Tse Pei Hung horse to St. Marco’s horse, from ornate armoured Duldul to [the] challenging white of Ashwamed... the cavalcade of my horses is multidimensional.”
- M F HUSAIN

The horse was both a deeply personal and universally resonant symbol for M F Husain, and arguably the most iconic motif in his vast body of work. Under his brush, these majestic creatures transcended literal representation and prosaic associations and took on new forms and meanings imbued with power and raw emotion. Critic Richard Bartholomew remarks, “When we look at these creatures we must remember that the animal is not the subject of Husain’s painting; it is the daemonic principle that he depicts, and to him it is neither good nor bad... the horses... have become symbols of power and pursuit, or of mysterious encounters.” (Richard Bartholomew, Husain, Richard Bartholomew and Shiv Kapur, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1972, p. 20)

Husain’s inspiration to paint horses was derived from a variety of sources, notably his childhood in Indore where he spent time with his grandfather’s friend who worked in a stable as a farrier tending to the horses of the then king Yeshwant Rao Holkar II. The Duldul-the effigy of Imam Hussain’s horse carried out during Muharram processions-also embedded itself in his young mind and found frequent expression in his art. His artistic vocabulary further expanded as he travelled across India early in his career. He drew from the country’s rich cultural and artistic traditions-The stylised Bankura horse of West Bengal, the majestic steeds pulling the Sun God’s chariot at the Konark temple in Odisha, and the Ashwamedha, the legendary stallion of the Mahabharata, all contributed to his evolving interpretation of the creature.

A pivotal moment in the 1950s further revitalised Husain’s equine subjects. While visiting China as part of the World Peace Congress in Beijing in 1952, he encountered the work of Chinese artist Xu Beihong and was particularly captivated by a monumental painting of a thousand horses in motion. As Susan Bean notes, “...he found what he was seeking-a means to imbue his horses with the expressive quality of line and form that matched his imagination.” (Susan S Bean, “East Meets East in Husain’s Horses”, Lightning by M F Husain, New York: TamarindArt in association with Asia Society Museum New York and Mapin Publishing, 2019, p. 42)

The raw vitality of the horse in the present lot is barely contained within the canvas. Husain sculpts its form with thick impasto, fractured by bold, sweeping lines-a technique adapted from traditional Chinese brushwork. The figure appears mid-gallop, its powerful limbs barely touching the ground as it surges forward, its arched neck and flared nostrils exuding an almost primal force. As Bartholomew describes, “...the manes, the fury, the working buttocks, the prancing legs, and the strong neighing heads with dilated nostrils are blocks of colour which are vivid or tactile or are propelled in their significant progression by strokes of the brush or sweeps of the palette knife. The activity depicted is transformed in the activity of paint…” (Bartholomew, p. 20)

Suspended over the figure is a prana mudra, a symbolic hand gesture used in Indian dance and meditation to channel energy and enhance vitality. Rooted in the Sanskrit word for breath or life force, this gesture reinforces the connection between life-giving energy and the horse’s untamed spirit. It also introduces a sense of serenity to the composition, counterbalancing the frenetic motion of the animal. Through this equilibrium of power and restraint, Husain masterfully bridges ancient symbolism with his modernist vision, transforming the canvas into a meditation on energy, strength, and transcendence.

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