French artist duo Ella & Pitr, and a small army of volunteers, have created what they claim to be the world’s largest mural covering the 226,040 square-feet (21,000 square meters) rooftop of an industrial estate in the little municipality of Klepp in Rogaland county, Norway. The mural, called “Lilith and Olaf”, depicts a gigantic curled-up woman and a tiny red figure that represents King Olaf I of Norway, who ruled the country from 995-1000 AD.
As you’d expect, with a mural of this size, the piece is best appreciated from the air — the collective’s previous works have been painted on airport runways, rooftops, and, in one case, a huge field of grass. According to James Finucane, Nuart Festival’s general manager, “Lilith and Olaf” is the “world’s largest outdoor mural,” which Ella & Pitr’s team completed in an impressive four days. While it’s difficult to confirm such a feat given the ephemeral nature of murals, Jaime Rojo and Steven Harrington, the co-founders of Brooklyn Street Art, estimate that the work is likely “the world’s largest figurative mural.”
Ella & Pitr draw their inspiration from comics and children’s books. Their most recent work in Norway is part of a series of ‘sleeping giants’ seen on rooftops all over the world. The duo has brought their work to Italy, Canada, Portugal, and Chile. The sleeping giants are black and white, often with red details, as in the painting in Norway. The creation of Lilith and Olaf took just four days, although the temporary nature of street art makes it difficult to confirm its status as the world’s largest mural (another one on a World War II air strip in the Mohave Desert measures about 195,000 square feet—but at least we can all agree “Lilith” is a very, very big girl, indeed.)
The mural will be officially unveiled on September 4, but anybody flying out of Sola airport should be able to see the large-scale work from the plane. Control tower staff, pilots and aircraft crew at Sola have already been informed and have begun altering their routes to give passengers the best possible sight of Rogaland’s new international landmark.
