For each edition of the Olympic Games exists an official poster. The same goes for the Paralympic Games: events of this magnitude cannot be imagined without advertising and artistic support.
In an inclusive approach, Paris 2024 has opted for a pair of posters that complement each other. One poster celebrates the Summer Games of the XXXIII Olympiad (from July 26 to August 11), and the other announces the event reserved for disabled athletes (from August 28 to September 8). When juxtaposed, the two merge into a single image. Never before had Olympism and Paralympism been associated in this way in terms of imagery.
Unveiled on Monday, March 4 at the Musée d'Orsay, this dual creation is the work of French illustrator Ugo Gattoni, born in 1988. An art school graduate, Gattoni specializes in frescoes, which explains his penchant for accumulation and detail. True to his style, his commission for Paris 2024teems together characters, objects, and buildings, set in a city-stadium and a world city simultaneously, a sort of Paris entirely devoted to sports practice and situated by the sea.
Seen from a diving board on which the Olympic motto (Citius, Altius, Fortius – Communiter) is discernible, this utopian city is itself a graphic achievement, with a total of 29 Olympic sports and 18 Paralympic disciplines depicted in an intricate arrangement of motifs and architecture, intended to "represent all the richness and diversity of our project," according to Tony Estanguet, the president of Paris 2024.
The whole thing resembles a (dense) map on which nothing has been forgotten: neither the emblematic monuments of the capital (the Grand Palais, the Arc de Triomphe, the Place de la Concorde...), nor the symbols of Olympism (the rings, the torch, the medal, the podiums, the torch relay...), ancient Greece (the Discobolus statue), and the Republic (Marianne).
In a nod to surrealism, the Eiffel Tower has been relocated to the middle of the Stade de France, and the Marseille marina (where the sailing events will take place) is outlined in the distance, as is the Teahupo'o wave (the surfing venue in Tahiti). In the sky, the French Air Force Aerobatic Team flies in formation (not a part of the Olympic program). At the top right, an island stands out: Great Britain, where Paralympism was born after the Second World War.
Hidden here and there, no less than six representations of the gender-neutral Olympic mascot called "Phryge" – paying homage to the Phrygian bonnet, a reference missed that many Internet users mocked for its resemblance to a clitoris – reinforcing the impression that we're looking at a variation of "Where's Waldo?" Martin Handford, the creator of the famous series, might feel outdone – Gattoni estimates that he has drawn 40,000 characters on his graphic tablet. Over 2,000 hours (the equivalent of six months of full-time work) went into its creation.
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