100 Million Meals campaign: in-person and silent charity art auctions to take place to help raise funds

The events are organised by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives

From left: A print by David Hockney, a gold medallion designed by Pablo Picasso and an outfit worn by artist Sacha Jafri will be available for budding. Courtesy WAM

A live in-person charity auction featuring rare artworks by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Nelson Mandela, and Salvador Dali is heading to Dubai to help raise funds for the 100 Million Meals campaign.

The auction will feature a piece of a Kaaba cover, embroidered in gold and silver, donated by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, as well as the artworks. The event will take place at Mandarin Oriental Jumeira on Saturday, April 24.

David Hockney's print Matelot Kevin Druez 2 and painting In Front of House Looking West will be on auction alongside paintings Untitled and Personnages, Oiseaux by Joan Miro. Henri Matisse's Fleurs dans un vase (Flower in a vase) as well as Study of faces: Madonna, Child and Profile of a Man, a drawing by Salvador Dali, will also be available for bidding.

Actor Will Smith will reveal a collaborative painting with Dubai-based British artist Sacha Jafri. The painting will be presented as an additional layer on top of Jafri's canvas panels inspired from his work The Journey of Humanity, which sold for $62 million and broke a Guinness World Record for Largest Art Canvas in March.

Simultaneously, there will be a silent auction held from April 20 to 30, with 53 items on display including signed jerseys from football stars Cristiano Ronaldo, Mesut Ozil and Nicolas Anelka, and Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal. The online auction will also allow the public to bid on experiences such as attending a Formula One race, watching the northern lights in Lapland or spending a holiday in the Italian countryside.

The auctions are organised by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives.

What is the 100 Million Meals initiative? 

The UAE has set out a plan to fund 100 million free meals in 20 countries, one of the biggest food drives of its kind.

Sheikh Mohammed unveiled the campaign on April 11, to ensure people in need do not go hungry, saying 820 million people are undernourished globally, 52 million of whom live in the Middle East and North Africa region.

The campaign is an expansion of 2020's 10 Million Meals campaign, which helped people in the UAE who lost jobs and faced salary cuts during the pandemic. It also worked to feed people who would normally end their fast at free iftars at mosques and public places, which had to be cancelled because of the pandemic.

A website set up for the campaign allows people to donate as little as Dh10 to fund 10 meals, rising to Dh500 or more. You can do this via the website, text message or bank transfer and even over the phone. All details on how to do it are available online.