Here are 5 record breaking art works, as according to Guinness World Records. Full disclaimer. Some of these are really weird.
There are world records set all across the world for all things weird and wonderful - whether that be most Rubik’s cubes solved on a skateboard or most blindfolded backwards standing somersaults in one minute. You name the most outrageous thing you can think of and we guarantee there will be a world record that exists revolving around it. Art is no exception. Artists break records for the art they create all the time and we’ve made a list all about them!
Largest Margarine Sculpture
If there’s one thing you should know about world records it's that they’re always really oddly specific and this one right here is a prime example of that. I mean, why margarine?! Why not, you know, literally any other substance? Margarine just seems a bit… slippery.
The largest margarine sculpture is 1506.800kg and was created by Devrat Anand Jategaonkar in India, Mumbai back in February of 2017. The piece he sculpted was of the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity in Hinduism and had a whopping length of 8 ft 2 in, a width of 3 ft 8 in and a height of 6 ft 1 in. For those that aren’t particularly mathematical, in easier to understand terms… It was massive.
I don’t even want to think about how much all that margarine cost.
Largest Display of Origami Elephants
Now, I won’t lie to you. Before I read into this, the title baffled me. Had there previously been large displays of origami elephants? Why elephants? How do they know this was the largest instance? But fear not, these questions have answers!
The largest display of origami elephants consists of 78,564 elephants. That’s most certainly an undefeatable amount of origami elephants. This record was achieved by the Wildlife Conservation Society at the Bronx Zoo in New York, USA back in November 2016. This record was attempted in order to raise awareness for elephant conservation, so don’t even think about challenging this record - unless you hate elephants, that is.
Largest Anamorphic Pavement Art
This one is pretty damn cool. Anamorphic art is created with the intention of creating an illusion. Just look at how gorgeous this piece is. Not to mention, scarily realistic! The record for the largest anamorphic pavement art measures at a shocking 30,218.49 square feet and was obtained by the incredible Yang Youngchun and Nine Color Rose Town in Lijiang, Yunnan, China in October of 2016.
I can’t even begin to imagine the time and effort that went into such a detailed piece but those commitments didn’t go to waste as these artists actually broke two records for their stunning pavement work, achieving another for the longest anamorphic pavement art!
Well deserved.
Largest Bobbin Lace
Another slightly strange, oddly specific art record broken was for the longest bobbin lace. For those who might not know, according to the dictionary definition, a bobbin lace is ‘lace handmade by thread wound on bobbins’.
The largest bobbin lace measures at a huge 53.262 m2 and was created by Município De Vila Do Conde in Portugal, August of 2015. The ladies that work with the bobbins, better known as ‘The Rendilheiras’ wove this giant bobbin lace, taking them over a year to complete.
Most Expensive Painting
Salvator Mundi is not only the world’s most expensive painting ever sold but also has an extremely interesting backstory behind it. Estimated to be painted somewhere between 1490 and 1500, the painting depicts Jesus Christ with a haunting expression whilst holding a crystal ball and crossing his fingers.
The painting seemingly frequently disappeared throughout history, coming in and out of possession of the royal family. Fakes would quite often appear but only to be sold for very little as they were soon proven to be unauthentic. After 50 years of being what was described as lost, the painting appeared in an American estate sale where it posed as a fake - little did they know, they had the real thing and it actually ended up being bought for just $10,000!
It soon made its way to professionals in 2007, who were soon able to authenticate the painting and fast forward 10 years, the painting ended up being auctioned off for an incredible $450.3 million by Saudi Arabian Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan al-Saud. You might want to take a breath before reading this next part… that’s worth around $544 million today - more than half a billion dollars!
Interested in learning all about the world’s most expensive paintings? Give our Most Expensive Paintings Ever Sold blog a read HERE!
With that, we come to an end of our list of record breaking art works. Be sure to check out the rest of our blog where we post all sorts of content, from gift guides to art related articles. We post regularly, so keep an eye out!