Ashtavinayak series shows Husain’s fascination with elephants. Maqbool Fida Husain (17 September 1915 – 9 June 2011) was a modern Indian painter of international acclaim, and a founding member of The Progressive Artists Group of Bombay (PAG).

Husain was associated with Indian modernism in the 1940s. His early association with the Progressive Artist's Group, or "PAG of Bombay" used modern technique, and was inspired by the "new" India after The Partition of 1947. His narrative paintings, executed in a modified Cubist style, can be caustic and funny as well as serious and sombre. His themes—sometimes treated in series—include topics as diverse as Mohandas K. Gandhi, Mother Teresa, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the British raj, and motifs of Indian urban and rural life.