The world’s largest painting has been sold for £45 million as a fund for children’s charity. The giant painting was created by Sacha Jafri, a British artist.
The size of the world’ largest painting is 1600 square metre (17,000 square ft) and the artist has created it in eight months in the ballroom of a deserted hotel in Dubai.
Jafri planned to sale this painting in 70 parts but Andre Adboune, a French cryptocurrency businessman bought the whole of it.
The sale price of the painting makes it “one of the most expensive paintings ever sold” at an auction in the life of the artist.
The British artist has devoted the whole amount of £45 ($62 million) to the UNICEF, Dubai Cares, UNESCO and the Global Gift Foundation. He dedicated the amount to the disadvantaged children living in countries like India, South Africa, Indonesia and Brazil.
Jafri was inspired to create this giant masterpiece from the pictures sent by children around the world. Sacha Jafri, 44, was hopping £22 million ($30 million) to raise from this painting. He was “blown away” with the amount raised double the expectation.
He said, “I was really overwhelmed by what happened – to raise that amount of money from one painting in one night.”
The artist, originally from London, asked the children to send pictures representing their feelings during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is how the painting started. He shares that he got responses over the appeal from children around the world. Children from 140 countries sent their pictures that become the inspiration for him.
He shares about the painting that he looked at the paintings made by children and then created this painting with the layers over layers of paint. He just poured the paint on the canvas subconsciously and played with the colours in his own way and then something magical happened. Jafri said there is no sketches or drawings. It was not planned either.
The painting by the British artist was recognized in Guinness World Record as the “largest-ever art canvas”.
Sacha Jafri created this piece in the hotel Atlantis while it was closed for the visitors. He faced a medical emergency and went through an operation on his spine. He was on feet, bent down, to reach the brush to the canvas on the floor. It was quite a difficult and bad position for 20 hours a day. He said that he was in a “trance” and did damage to his body unknowingly.
The title of the painting was The Journey of Humanity and it has been sold on Monday, in Dubai. The buyer has a beautiful vision of the painting and he plans to house it in a museum he wants to build.
According to Jafri, the money will be spent on the children to provide them with good healthcare and sanitation facilities in the poorest communities and to give them access to the internet and educational platforms. Internet is the biggest divide of the time according to him.
