Sacha Jafri’s ‘The Journey of Humanity’ Raises $ 62 Million at Dubai Charity Auction

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Written by Oscar Holland, CNN

The world’s largest canvas painting has sold at auction in Dubai for nearly 228 million dirhams ($ 62 million), making it one of the most expensive works of art ever to go under the hammer.

Spanning more than 17,000 square feet, “The Journey of Humanity” is about the size of four basketball courts under NBA regulations.

The work was created by British painter Sacha Jafri to raise money for children affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

After cutting the work into 70 parts, Jafri initially planned to sell the panels individually in hopes of making a combined $ 30 million. But at a charity auction on Monday, Dubai-based businessman Andre Abdoune offered more than double to buy them all.

Jafri pictured with part of “The Journey of Humanity” at the Atlantis The Palm hotel in Dubai. Credit: CNN

The sale makes Jafri’s name one of the most expensive living artists in the world. The $ 62 million raised by “The Journey of Humanity” has been beaten at auction only by the works of Jeff Koons, David Hockney and the digital artist Beeple, whose NFT image “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” was sold through Christie’s for more than $ 69 million earlier this month.

As part of Jafri’s Humanity Inspired initiative, proceeds from the auction will be donated to UNICEF, UNESCO, The Global Gift Foundation and Dubai Cares for programs related to education, healthcare, sanitation and digital connectivity for children. In a press release from Dubai Cares, Jafri described the sale as “a moment for mankind”.

“At the start of my ‘Humanity Inspired’ initiative, I had a vision to reconnect our broken planet through the hearts, minds and souls of the children of the world,” he says. “I feel in my heart that thanks to Andre we have come a step closer to achieving this.”

Record-breaking performance

The artwork holds the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest art canvas. It was made in a ballroom at the Atlantis The Palm hotel in Dubai, where Jafri was stationed when the United Arab Emirates introduced lockdown measures last year to contain the spread of Covid-19.
“I was stuck in Dubai and I wanted to make something poignant, something that would mean something,” he told CNN last year, before finishing the artwork. “Something that could potentially make a huge difference.”

Related video: Sacha Jafri speaks to CNN after the painting’s completion last year.

It takes seven months to complete and the painting features abstract brushwork and drip painting in a style Jafri calls ‘magical realism’. The canvas was divided into four interconnected segments, with the first representing “ the soul of the earth, ” and the other hinting at nature, humanity and the wider universe, Jafri said.

The painter, who had trained alongside Prince William at Britain’s elite boarding school Eton, had also called on children around the world to contribute their own artwork on the themes of connection, separation and isolation during the pandemic. The entries were printed on paper and incorporated into the huge canvas.

“I asked the children of the world to send in their artwork – how they feel now, their emotions,” he explained last year. “We, as adults, find this difficult. We found the last five months to be very difficult, very confusing, very frustrating and quite scary. But imagine how a 4-year-old child feels.”

Sacha Jafri has called his painting style ‘magical realism’. Credit: CNN

Abdoune, the artwork’s new owner, said in a press statement that the “investment and love” that Jafri put into the painting was “so wonderful.”

“All my life I’ve tried to help children,” he said. ‘When I was a kid I had nothing to eat. Now I have something to eat. We all have to do something. ‘

Parts of the artwork will be on display during Jafri’s retrospective career, which is currently on display at the Leila Heller Gallery in Dubai.

Top image: Sacha Jafri at the opening of his show at the Leila Heller Gallery in Dubai in February 2021.

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