Tassaduq Sohail (born 1930 – died 2017) was Pakistan’s most famous surrealist. Tassaduq was born in Jullundar in 1930 and later migrated to Lahore. His family moved him to Karachi in 1952. In Karachi, he found a rich Urdu literary circle and joined them where he was termed as qissa-go, for his talent of tale-narrating, by Muhammad Hasan Askari, the urdu teacher and critic. Tassaduq Sohail moved to London in 1961 and started painting to win female friends and to overcome his loneliness and succeeded in his objectives. But soon painting became his passion and he joined evening classes at the St. Martin School of Art. Painting became his passion. His first exhibition was held in London in 1978, and over the years there have been so many that he has lost count of them. He states, “They must be in thousands. These include watercolours, pastels, pen and ink and whatnot, but I have kept no record”. Almost after three decades his paintings arrived at Bonham’s – the international art auction house in 2007 that gave him stature of an international artist. Tassaduq Sohail paintings and sketches are in the permanent collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. As well as Tate Britian.

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