You might need an airplane to see it, but a new 21,000-square-meter (approximately 226,040-square-foot) rooftop painting of a sleeping woman, from French street artists Ella and Pitr, or the Papiers Peintres, just may be the world’s biggest mural.
The gargantuan artwork was created over the course of four days for the Nuart Festival in Stavanger, Norway. The annual contemporary street and urban art festival will celebrate its 15th anniversary when it opens next month.
Ella & Pitr, Lillith and Olaf (detail), for the Nuart Festival.
Photo: Ella & Pitr.
The duo has painted or wheat-pasted their sleepy giants across the world, on rooftops or large patches of ground in Italy, Canada, Portugal, and Chile, among other countries. Each larger-than-life napper lies sprawled in an unusual position, often taking full advantage of irregular building configurations.
Their latest artwork features a young woman in a tank top and track shorts, and takes the larger-than-life concept to a whole new level.
Ella & Pitr, Lillith and Olaf (detail), for the Nuart Festival.
Photo: Ella & Pitr.
Titled Lilith and Olaf, the piece also features a comparatively tiny portrait of Norway’s ancient King Olaf I, who ruled from A.D. 995–1000, and was supposedly born just a stone’s throw from the construction company office whose roof serves as the work’s canvas.
It’s hard to prove the record-breaking claims, but the mural appears to beat the Pueblo Levee Project in Pueblo, Colorado, which has held the Guinness World Record for the largest outdoor mural at 16,554.8 square meters (about 178,194 square feet) since 1997.
Created in the 1970s, the three-mile-long work, which features the hands of thousands of artists, may be destroyed when the levee is repaired.
Ella & Pitr, Lillith and Olaf, for the Nuart Festival.
Photo: Ella & Pitr.
Ella & Pitr, Lillith and Olaf (detail), for the Nuart Festival.
Photo: Ella & Pitr.
Ella & Pitr, Lillith and Olaf, for the Nuart Festival.
Photo: Ella & Pitr.
Check out this video, captured by a drone, for a true sense of the scale of the giant painting:
The Nuart Festival is on view at Tou Scene, Kvitsøygate 25 Stavanger, Norway, September 5–October 11, 2015.
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