Sacha Jafri, a 43-year-old British artist, is in the process of creating the world’s largest oil painting on canvas! And what is its size? A whopping 1,980-square-meter, which is over 21,000 square feet. Would you believe that this is about the size of four basketball courts!!
Called ‘The Journey of Humanity,’ the painting is expected to be completed next month. It will be auctioned off later in the year and is expected to raise around $30 million for charity.
This painting is a part of of the Humanity Inspired initiative, which is collaborating with charities including Unicef and Unesco to aid children and frontline workers across the world that are in need during these trying times of the pandemic.
Interestingly, it is being painted in the ballroom of Atlantis The Palm luxury hotel in Dubai.
The story of how Jafri envisioned the painting is also very interesting. He was in Dubai when the government introduced the lockdown measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus. And during the time that he was in Dubai, he wanted to do something meaningful.
“I was stuck in Dubai and I wanted to create something poignant, something that would mean something,” he said on a video call from the hotel to CNN. “Something that could potentially make a really big difference.”
There is also another special feature about the painting – it will feature artwork that has been submitted by children around the world depicting their feelings during the lockdown.
Once it is created, the painting will be projected onto the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. Subsequently, it will be cut into 60 distinct pieces, will be framed, and auctioned off individually in December. The money raised from the auction will be used to aid the poor children across the world with education, sanitation, and overall health.
Isn’t this absolutely beautiful? Share with us your views on this painting in the comments section below.
