Sayed Haider Raza: The man who lived to paint and painted to live

Legendary artist Syed Haider Raza died in a New Delhi hospital on Saturday. He was 94. (ARIJIT SEN/ht photo)

Updated on: Jul 24, 2016 12:43 AM IST

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Legendary artist Syed Haider Raza died in a New Delhi hospital on Saturday. He was 94. (ARIJIT SEN/ht photo)

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In this photo, Raza can be seen at his residence in Delhi. As per his wishes, his last rites would be conducted in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandala. (ARIJIT SEN/ht photo)

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Primarily known for his abstracts in acrylic, Raza was born on February 22, 1922 and grew up in a small village in Madhya Pradesh. (ARIJIT SEN/ht photo)

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He went on to study at the Sir JJ School of Art and founded the Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group (1947), which challenged the existing art establishment. (priyanka parashar/mint)

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An exhibition of Raza`s paintings at TAO art gallery. His body of work is instantly recognisable thanks to the geometric motifs that feature in it. He has explored themes of prakriti (nature), kundalini (primal energy), tribhuj (triangle) and bindu (circle/dot). (Prodip guha/ht photo)

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His paintings have sold for record prices — Saurashtra, which sold for Rs 15.9 crore, and La Terre, which sold for Rs 18.8 crore — count among the most expensive paintings sold at an auction. But the artist remains unfazed by the attention. (pradeep gaur/mint)

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For Raza, the process of painting was one of perennial search, almost akin to a spiritual quest: “Art is meditation; it meditates through colours. The bindu provides you with a focus, a locus (position) to concentrate on,” he had once said. (ARIJIT SEN/ht photo)

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Raza’s interest in the bindu stemmed from his childhood days. (ARIJIT SEN/ht photo)

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The noted artist has been the recipient of Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan and the Legion of Honour (the highest honour awarded to civilians by the French government). Raza was also a fellow of the Lalit Kala Akademi. (RAJANISH KAKADE/HT photo)