The ancient Olympic Games were already a quarter of a millennium old when, in 530 BC, an anonymous Greek artist, known today as the “The Running Man Painter”, adorned the body of a clay jug with a playful portrait of a muscular marathonist in full sprint.
Suspended in mid-stride on the vessel’s cylindrical surface, the figure’s unforgettable flex of form and fleet-footed physique remind us that, since antiquity, athletic expressiveness and artistic expression have striven to keep pace with each other. The line between art and sport is a blurry one.
To this day, the striking photos of exceptional Olympic moments that go viral resonate so powerfully in part because they recall and reinforce iconic images from the history of visual culture that have helped shape our consciousness. We’ve seen these figures before – only now, they’re real. What follows is a curated round-up of some of the most memorable photos captured during the 2024 Paris Olympics, side-by-side with the paintings, drawings and sculptures whose contours they echo.
Divers/Magritte’s Golconda