Crossroads Roundup: Paris Olympics, Operation Pandora, and NYC Ballet Turns 75

Our favorite stories on art, archaeology, folklore, and more from this past week.

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Via the Olympics official Twitter (X) page.

Paris Olympics: art, controversy, and Dionysus. 

The Paris Olympics kicked off this past week, and as art lovers, we have to talk about the opening ceremony. The ceremony was widely praised by the French press, though it received backlash from the Catholic Church due to a tableau of drag queens that allegedly mimics Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper (1495-1498).  

Organizers apologized for any offense this may have caused, though they stated that the tableau was not inspired by The Last Supper, but by Johann “Gio” Rottenhammer and Jan Bruegel the Elder’s The Feast of the Gods (1602). In an interview with CNN, opening ceremony director Thomas Jolly stated:

Dionysus arrives at the table because he is the Greek God of celebration and that sequence is called ‘festivity.’ The God of wine, which is also a French jewel and father of Sequana, the Goddess linked to the River Seine. The idea was to create a big pagan party in link with the God of Mount Olympus — and you will never find in me, or in my work, any desire of mocking anyone.

The Last Supper, Leonardo da Vinci ca. 1495-1498. Via Wikimedia Commons.

The Feast of the Gods, Johann Rottenhammer and Jan Bruegel the Elder ca. 1602. Via Wikimedia Commons.