“It’s Dionysus, who comes to the feast of the gods,” explains the artistic director, who is responsible for all elements of the opening of the games in Paris. Unfortunately, his explanations are of little use, because viewers around the world have mistakenly understood the artistic interpretation of the 17th-century work.
Opening of the Olympic Games in Paris. Wasn’t it “The Last Supper”?
The echoes of Friday’s opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris are still ongoing. Particular emotions were stirred by the performance of a drag queen and a group of dancers, who at the end of the show froze in artistic poses at a structure that pretended to be a long table, while on its top, from under a large silver platter, a half-naked man appeared, singing and painted in blue. It seems that the biggest problem was the figure that was behind him – a woman with a structure placed on her head that could be mistaken for a halo.
Although the number of people on stage was completely wrong, the poses were wrong, the blue man was also out of this world, and there were immediate outrages on the internet. Some viewers saw the performance as a parody of one of the most famous paintings in the world – “The Last Supper” by Leonardo da Vinci. The artistic director of the opening of the games, that the scene with dancers and a drag queen has little to do with Christianity. It was supposed to be a reconstruction not of “The Last Supper”, but of “The Feast of the Gods” by Jan van Bijlert, a Dutch artist from the 17th century, showing how the gods of ancient Greece celebrated. The blue man dressed only in a flowery loincloth is none other than Dionysus, the god of wine and celebration, considered the father of the goddess of the Seine. The crowd gathered behind him was supposed to symbolize various Greek deities.
We wanted to have a big pagan party, joined by the gods from Olympus – explained Thomas Jolly, the artistic director of the ceremony. – In none of my works have I ever mimicked or slandered anyone. I wanted this ceremony to bring us closer together, to reconcile us, but also to represent the values of the Republic – freedom, equality and fraternity.
Barbara Butch, who plays the character right behind Dionysus, who is mistaken for a representation of Jesus, also spoke out. In a private message sent to a Polish journalist, she confirmed that her character was Apollo, and the entire scene took place not at the table from “The Last Supper”, but on the Greek Olympus.
In the painting “Le festin des dieux” van Bijlert immortalized the wedding after the marriage of the mortal Peleus and the Nereid Thetis – the later parents of Achilles. It was this ceremony that was the event that started the Trojan War years later. The painting in its full glory can be seen in the Magnin Museum in Dijon:
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
