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SvennoJ on 31 July 2024
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Bofferbrauer2 said:
Kaunisto said:

I more or less watched all of it (while doing something else) and it was hit and miss. I do like them trying to do something different and special, but this was trying a bit too hard (also to be funny, but that's always the case).
My favorite part was the Eiffel light show. And Dion pulled off a good act. I never mind some metal, but I'm not sure that kind of act fit well the occasion.
As for the Last Supper thing, that was an unnecessary and pointless provocation. Couldn't think of a famous French painting to do?

Like I explained above, they did just that. It's not The Last Supper, but The Feast of The Gods, a painting which is owned by the French state. Hence why Bacchus shows up at the end of that section.

Here's the painting.



https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/jul/29/olympic-last-supper-scene-based-painting-greek-gods-art-experts

A controversial tableau in the Olympics opening ceremony denounced by Christian and conservative critics as an offensive parody of The Last Supper was in fact inspired by a 17th-century Dutch painting of the Greek Olympian gods, art historians have said.


Leonardo da Vinci’s much-parodied The Last Supper portrays the final meal Jesus is said to have taken with his apostles. However, the creative director of the opening ceremony, Thomas Jolly, denied the scene, titled “Festivity”, was based on the painting.

“That wasn’t my inspiration,” he told BFM TV. “I think it was pretty clear. There’s Dionysus who arrives at the table … Why is he there? Because he’s the god of feasting, of wine, and the father of Sequana, the goddess of the River Seine.”

The idea, Jolly said, was “more to have a big pagan party linked to the gods of Olympus, Olympian, Olympianism … You’ll never find in me any kind of wish to mock, to denigrate anything at all. I wanted a ceremony that repairs and reconciles.”

Apollo, god of the sun, was recognisable by his halo, Schoonenberg said, Dionysus by the grapes, Poseidon, god of the sea, by his trident, Artemis by the moon and Venus by Cupid. Minerva, goddess of wisdom, and Mars, god of war, were also present.

“So there is no question in this tableau of an insult to Christians,” the historian said. “We’re talking about the Olympic gods in a representation of van Bijlert’s work. The Greek gods came together on Olympus – where the ancient Games took place.”