The real painting that inspired controversial scene during Olympics opening ceremony
Olympic opening ceremonies are always contentious affairs, but the opening of this year’s games in Paris was the cause of particular controversy. Partway through the ceremony on July 26th, a cast of drag queens and performers appeared in what many people believed was a parody of Leonard Da Vinci’s The Last Supper. As you can imagine, such a sight caused a significant backlash, with many Christian commentators and politicians weighing in to voice their disgust.
The immediate reaction to the scene on social media bordered on frenzy at points. Many people also called for a boycott of the Paris Olympic Games as a result of the supposed Last Supper scene. However, the organisers of the ceremony have since come out and set the record straight and revealed the scene had nothing to do with Da Vinci’s famous painting.
In actuality, the scene took the bulk of its inspiration from the Jan Van Biljert painting Le Festin des Dieux (The Feast of the Gods). The 17th-century work, which is currently housed in Musée Magnin in France, depicts the marriage of the Greek mythological figures Thetis and Peleus. Although both paintings feature people gathered around a table, Le Festin des Dieux has nothing to do with Jesus Christ.
Upon viewing Biljert’s painting, it is clear to see that the drag queen rendition during the opening ceremony was not inspired by The Last Supper. In fact, the show’s director, Thomas Jolly, told BFM TV in France, “I think it was pretty clear. There’s Dionysus arriving at the table … Why is he there? Because he’s the god of feasting, of wine, and the father of Sequana, the goddess of the River Seine.”
Clearly, the inspiration of Greek mythology was not clear enough for some viewers, as the controversy of the drag section largely overshadowed the rest of the opening ceremony. In the days since the event, organisers of the Paris Olympic Games were forced to apologise for the scene, despite it having nothing to do with Christianity or The Last Supper.
Barbara Butch, one of the performers involved in the scene, has since shared – via a lawyer – that she has been “threatened with death, torture, and rape, and has also been the target of numerous antisemitic, homophobic, sexist and body-shaming insults” in the days following the ceremony on July 26th.
It is worth noting, at this point, that Da Vinci’s painting has been endlessly parodied in a variety of forms over the centuries since it was first completed. Very rarely do these parodies stand accused of mocking Christianity. Hence, it seems plausible that it was the inclusion of queer artists and performers that was the main cause of offence for many commentators.
