France released the official posters on Tuesday for the upcoming 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris this summer, and conservatives and right-wingers in the country are not happy.
The posters, designed by illustrator Ugo Gattoni, depict a panorama of a fantastical Parisian cityscape, showing such iconic monuments as the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe along the Seine in vibrant hues.
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Conservatives in France, however, were remiss over a missing Christian cross and French tricolor flags, which, in real life, top the Dome des Invalides, part of an historic military complex in central Paris and the site of Napoleon’s tomb.
Francois-Xavier Bellamy, a member of European parliament from the right-wing Republicans party, accused those responsible for “distort[ing] reality” and “cancel[ing France’s] history,” on X.
That sentiment was echoed by Marion Marechal of the far-right Reconquete party, who wrote on X, “What is the point of holding the Olympic Games in France if we then hide who we are?”
Gattoni said in response that he rendered buildings “in the way they come to my mind without any ulterior motive.” In a statement to AFP provided the Olympics organizing committee, Gattoni said, “I am not aiming to make them accurate to the originals but rather to make them recognisable at a glance, placing them within a surrealist and celebratory universe”.
The poster is hardly atypical of Gattoni’s work, which often depicts other-worldly detailed landscapes.
The organizing committee said that the posters were a “light-hearted interpretation of a reinvented stadium-city.” A wave is seen “offshore of the Marseille Marina; the Eiffel Tower is pink; the Metro is passing through the Arc de Triomphe –- none of which should be the object of politically-motivated interpretations”.
Within the poster are the colors of the French flag, as well as national symbols and representations of all 54 Olympic and Paralympic sports.
Organizers have also faced criticism for their aesthetic choices in merchandising and the mascot.
The Paris Olympics are set to take place between July 26 and August 11, with the Paralympics slated shortly thereafter from August 28 to September 8.
Source: artnews.com