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Since the first modern Olympic Games, held in 1896 in Athens and created by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, imagery has played a vital role in promoting the world’s greatest sporting event. At first, the official posters of each edition were used to provide practical information about the competitions. But over time symbols began to impose themselves on the text, and today the posters serve to reinforce the identity and values of the event, thanks to the mastery of the artists behind them.
Paris 2024 is no exception, which is why they have presented two colourful posters that embody the slogan “Games wide open”, and the ambition of the project, which is simply to bring sport closer to all citizens.
The city-stadium of Ugo Gattoni
The posters were designed in collaboration with French illustrator Ugo Gattoni, showing a dreamlike portrait of a city-stadium, inside which sit the monuments of the capital, the symbols of France, some of the competition venues and several key sports and individuals. This spectacular landscape invites the viewer to immerse themselves in and discover a series of miniature details and scenes which, when put together, form a fascinating whole.
In order to meet this immense challenge the artist, whose illustrations are known for their surrealism and profusion of details, worked in his studio from 19 September 2023 to 19 January 2024, spending a total of 2,000 creating the two posters that will become a lasting symbol of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
A utopian, fantastical version of Paris
For the first time in the history of the Summer Games, the Olympic and Paralympic posters have been created using a diptych design: they each function independently, but when paired together they form a single image that tells the full story of Paris 2024.
The posters immerse us in a utopian and fantastical version of Paris, a joyful, festive and colourful city. The composition is made up of countless micro-elements and mini scenes, in such a way that the viewer can roam around and immerse themselves freely in this microcosm, discovering with every glance new details which open the door to fresh narratives.
Some of the elements that can be seen in the posters are Olympic symbols, such as the rings, the Agitos and the medals, as well as emblems of this edition of Paris 2024: the mascots, the arrival of the Olympic torch aboard the Belem sailboat, the boats of the opening ceremony on the Seine, the various competition venues, etc. It does not fail to include the iconic monuments of the “city of lights”, such as the Eiffel Tower, the metro and the Arc de Triomphe.
In this imagined version of Paris, which draws on the Art Deco movement, sport is all over the city, creating bridges between the past and the present, between the Paris of the 1900 Games, the Paris of the 1924 Games and, one hundred years later, the Paris of the 2024 Games. It features many of the 32 sporting disciplines taking place in the event, including new Olympic sports such as break dancing, climbing, skateboarding and surfing.
The posters for this new edition of the Olympic Games can be purchased at the Musée d’Orsay and at the Paris 2024 online store, where they can also be downloaded in digital format. They are also available in the official physical merchandise shops of Paris 2024, FNAC stores and some supermarkets. If you prefer the digital image, they can be downloaded
The posters of the Cultural Olympiad
The city is also hosting the Cultural Olympiad, a collaborative artistic venture consisting of events and performances that pay tribute to the richness of French culture, until 8 September 2024, the day of the closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. For each edition of the world’s top sporting competition, the Organising Committee develops a programme of “Art Posters” to complement the official poster of the Games.
The artists selected on this occasion are painter and sculptor Adam Janes, multi-disciplinary artist Clotilde Jiménez, painter Gilles Elie, photography duo Elsa & Johanna, designer Pierre Seinturier, designer and illustrator Fanny Michaëlis and photographer Stéphanie Lacombe. They have each participated in the creation of an original body of 14 works of art to express values such as inclusion, equality and innovation.