Press release

In association with the Olympic Museum

Art enlightens the intelligence, captivates thought, and incites ambition. —Pierre de Coubertin (1863–1937), founder of the modern Olympic Movement

Gagosian is pleased to announce The Art of the Olympics, a two-part group exhibition organized in association with the Olympic Museum to celebrate the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024.

The gallery at rue de Castiglione features artworks in various mediums that explore sport’s rich cultural, iconographic, social, and emotional tapestry. Among the selections is Andreas Gursky’s monumental photograph Amsterdam, Arena I (2000), which presents a panoramic aerial view of a football match, reducing the uniformed players and manicured turf to an abstract composition of line and color. Man Ray’s similarly playful Jeux Nocturnes (c. 1970) infuses the soccer ball itself with a spirit of mystery that suggests a hidden dynamic, while Duane Hanson’s polychrome bronze sculpture Bodybuilder (1989–90) portrays an unnamed muscular, shirtless man encountered by the artist at a gym in Hollywood, Florida; the subject’s skin is sheened with sweat and his expression conveys a state of deep self-immersion. Jonas Wood’s Scholl Canyon (2005) transforms the serene landscape of a sprawling golf course into a multilayered abstract composition and Christo’s drawing for Running Fence (1974), a 39.4-kilometer public sculpture, communicates a sense of shared exhilaration akin to a marathon in its nurturing of cultural exchange and unity. The repurposing of fabric used in the artist’s Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped (1961–2021) in tents for the Paris Olympic Games extends his enduring legacy. A further selection includes works by Keith Haring, Takashi Murakami, Marc Newson, Ed Ruscha, Andy Warhol, and others.