Olympism: a modern invention, an ancient heritage
This exhibition at the Louvre offers an opportunity to rediscover the genesis of the modern Games and how they draw on ancient history.
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From April 24th to September 16th
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Exposition
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Louvre Museum, Paris
The exhibition traces the invention of the modern Olympic Games, through the relationship between Athens and Paris, between the École française d'Athènes and the Louvre, and through a gallery of portraits. Beyond the figure of Pierre de Coubertin, the exhibition reveals the figures of little-known historians and artists such as Michel Bréal (1832-1915), who helped reinvent the competitions of ancient Greece based on the study of ancient texts, or Swiss artist Émile Gilliéron (1850-1924), the official artist of the 1896 Olympic Games, who moved to Greece in 1876.
Alexandre Farnoux, former director of the École française d'Athènes and professor of archaeology and Greek art history at Sorbonne University, is one of the exhibition's co-curators.