Was not The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci that was recreated by an exuberant, gender-diverse group during the opening of the Olympic Games in Paris. Believers around the world reacted with fury, but according to director and choreographer Thomas Jolly it was a representation of Greek mythology.
A plausible enough story. Because what was that naked, blue-faced man doing in a fruit basket on the table? That was something completely different from bread and wine. “We represent a wild pagan celebration,” says Jolly. The blue joker in the fruit bowl is the Greek god Dionysus, or Bacchus in the Roman version, from which the word bacchanal is derived. For example, if you look at the painting The feast of the gods The similarities can be seen in the 17th-century painting by Jan van Bijlert. The painting, which is on display at the Magnin Museum in Dijon, France, shows Dionysus on Mount Olympus eating grapes in front of a table of gods; the figure with a halo in the middle is not Jesus, but Apollo.
Greek mythology has more in common with the Olympic Games than the Bible; after all, the Olympic Games were invented in ancient Greece. Moreover, Dionysus is a popular figure in France, as the god of wine. In every champagne house there is a statue of the merry drunkard, symbolising the the joy of living.
It is unclear why Olympic organizers apologized for the alleged blasphemy the day after the opening. They could have immediately provided clarity by giving offended believers a lesson in art history, but that did not happen. In doing so, they appeared to agree with critics.
The entire show was filled with references to French culture. From a decapitated Queen Marie Antoinette watching the athletes pass by with her head under her arm to Celine Dion Hymn to love She sang almost as powerfully as the renowned French singer Édith Piaf.
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