The world’s largest canvas painting has been sold at an auction held in Dubai at a whopping value of about $62 million or Rs 450 crore.
This places the painting among the most expensive artworks to ever have been auctioned.
World’s Largest Art Canvas
British artist Sacha Jafri has created the world’s largest canvas painting, using 6,300 litres of paint and spanning over 17,000 square feet, which is equivalent to the size of four NBA basketball courts.
The painting titled ‘The Journey of Humanity’, was divided by Jafri into 70 frames, as he had planned to sell each frame separately to raise an amount of $30 million.
The artwork has been created to raise money for children affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, reports CNN.
While Jafri had plans of selling each frame separately, the buyer, a businessman named Andre Abdoune bought the whole painting with all the 70 frames together, for more than double the anticipated price for about $62 million.
“The painting was very powerful when I saw it, and, for me, it would have been a mistake to separate the pieces”, commented Abdoune on the painting.
All the proceeds from the painting will be donated to UNICEF, UNESCO, The Global Gift Foundation, and Dubai Cares, informed the organisers of the auction event.
The sum will be used to help children around the globe, affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I come from a poor family, and I knew at times how it feels to have nothing to eat, but at least I had the love of my parents, schooling, and support,” states Abdoune.
Following the record sale, Guinness World Records announced the artwork to be the ‘Largest Art Canvas’.
The most expensive painting by a living artist sold at auction was David Hockney’s 1972 “Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)” which in 2018 sold for $90.3 million.