The Indian artist Syed Haider Raza has died at the age of 94. He passed away in a New Delhi hospital. He was a great legend that the 20th century has produced,” poet and former chairman of the Lalit Kala Akademi .

• Artist Saiyed Haider Raza was honoured with the highest french award- The Legion of Honour in 2015. He was also received Padma Vibhushan in 2013 and Padma Bhushan in 2007.
• His work was recognised with the introduction of ‘Bindu’ released in 1980, which is a closer look at the Indian culture. It gave an Indian vision all his work and a deeper aspect of art.

• Later in 2000, his work took a deeper insight on Indian spirituality and created works around  Mahabharat.

• The internationally acclaimed painter was elected as fellow of the Lalit Kala Akademi in 1983. Raza became one of India’s priciest modern artist in 2010 when his seminal work ‘Saurashtra’ was sold at a Christie’s auction for a whopping Rs. 16.42 crore.

About Syed the ArtistHaider Raza

• Syed Haider Raza was born in 1922 in Babaria, Mandla district, Madhya Pradesh, to Sayed Mohammed Razi, the Deputy Forest Ranger of the district and Tahira Begum.

• Raza took to drawing at the age of 12. At 13, he moved to Damoh, also in Madhya Pradesh, and completed his school education from Government High School, Damoh. After high school, he studied further at the Nagpur School of Art, Nagpur, followed by Sir J. J. School of Art, Mumbai.

• Syed Haider Raza, had his first solo show in 1946 at Bombay Art Society Salon, and was awarded the Silver Medal of the society. He was awarded the Padma Shri and Fellowship of the Lalit Kala Akademi in 1981.

• There’s also an interesting story behind Raza’s fascination for bindu. When he was 9, his teacher Nandlal Jharia drew a bindu on a white wall and made him stare at it to check his restlessness. “The bindu awakened a latent energy inside me,” Raza had said.