The world's largest portrait of South African politician Nelson Mandela has been unveiled ahead of his 95th birthday.
Paul Blomkamp painted a 4.2m x 4.2m portrait on nine canvases to celebrate Mandela's birthday in July.
The portrait took 14 months to create and is painted in acrylic paint. “I wanted to capture Mandela's legendary smile forever,” Blomkamp said.
“He has the most attractive face I have ever seen. I am determined to do justice to the energy and spirit of this wonderful man.”
The minimum price for the Mandela portrait was £193,000, and the artist and seller Very First Two has pledged to donate £1,000 to the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital after the sale.
Marcel Nobile, founder of luxury goods website VeryFirstTo, said: “I can't think of a unique brand that better represents tolerance, diplomacy and generosity. We are proud to make this exceptional work of art available exclusively worldwide. We are honored to have exclusive access to it,” he added.
In 1968, at the age of 19, South African Blomkamp was commissioned to create the largest piece of stained glass at the time.
Since then he has created many large modern windows for churches, homes and businesses.
But for the past 20 years, he has focused solely on his paintings. Mandela's portrait is part of a trilogy in which Mandela also painted Opera Winfrey and Richard Branson.
About his work, he says, “These paintings are not about flesh and blood or skin and bones, but rather about trillions of atoms constantly arranging at lightning speed, creating each of us uniquely.'' “It's a wild choreography of invisible energy.” That's us.
“These paintings hope to freeze this seemingly chaotic swirl of energy into a single, visible moment.”
Mandela will turn 95 on July 18th. According to South Africa's Sunday Times, his family is planning birthday celebrations for him in Pretoria, London and Monaco.
According to the newspaper, the 25-page brochure shows that there will be a gala dinner in Pretoria, several soccer matches featuring Manchester City and a boxing tournament with super middleweight fighter Edwin Rodriguez. It is said that it has been done.