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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Jon Henley in Paris

Olympic ‘Last Supper’ scene was in fact based on painting of Greek gods, say art experts

Composite of a blue-painted man depicting Dionysus the opening ceremony (left), and a section of the painting of feasting Greek gods by van Bijlert
Dionysus on a platter during the opening ceremony (left) and Feast of the Gods by Jan van Bijlert. Photograph: Twitter/Musee Magnin

A controversial tableau in the Olympics opening ceremony denounced by Christian and conservative critics as an offensive parody of The Last Supper was in fact inspired by a 17th-century Dutch painting of the Greek Olympian gods, art historians have said.

“Does this painting remind you of something?” the Magnin Museum in the French city of Dijon asked (with a wink) on X, inviting people to “come and admire” The Feast of the Gods, painted by the artist Jan van Bijlert between 1635 and 1640.

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