Acclaimed painter Manjit Bawa was on Friday put on life support systems at a superspeciality hospital in New Delhi where he was admitted on December 17 after he complained of severe headache.
"The 64-year-old artist, who has suffered brain haemorrage, has been put on ventilator system," Apollo Hospital sources said. They had earlier said that a small intracranial haemotoma had been found without any other abnormality.
Born in 1941 in Dhuri village in Punjab, Bawa is known for his brilliantly dramatic paintings where Hindu mythological figures, street performers, animals, farmers and Sufi legends are depicted against arresting backgrounds.
He studied fine arts at the School of Art, New Delhi between 1958 and 1963, where his professors included Somnath Hore, Rakesh Mehra, Dhanaraj Bhagat and B C Sanyal.
Bawa specialised in figurative painting at a time when the leading trend was towards abstract.
Besides painting, Bawa is known as a sculptor, teacher, theatre personality and has even acted in films.