France

The mysteries of the Paris 2024 Olympic poster

The poster for the Paris 2024 Olympics is the work of artist Ugo Gattoni. It’s packed with detail, but it’s hard to make sense of it all.

The poster is very colorful. A motley collection of small monuments suggests that we are in Paris. The stylized Eiffel Tower, the Invalides. But there’s also the sea, as in Marseille no doubt, and the Belem, the superb sailing ship that carried the flame from Greece to Marseille. The rings of the Olympic and Paralympic Games are not forgotten, of course. Nor are the medals that will be won by athletes from all over the world.
Missing, however, is the French flag, the cross over the Invalides. If the author of this poster has introduced a host of details and symbols into his work, it’s because he leaves it up to everyone to spot and interpret them.
Barely released, the Olympic Games2024 poster is already causing controversy. Will the drawing, which took over 1,000 hours to complete, ever be exhibited at the Musée d’Orsay?

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