Jérémie Tarot

Despite my better judgement, I watched the 'Last Supper' clip from the opening ceremonies that everyone was outraged about. One thing that was bugging me: "why tf is Bacchus in front of the Last Supper? That doesn't even make any sense." I recalled a painting from my many art history studies in college called "The Feast of the Gods" by Jan Harmensz van Biljert which depicts the banquet of the Olympian gods, with Bacchus in the foreground and Apollo with a gold halo around his head in the center, painted in 1635. There's even a child in this painting, which is one of the things so many were furious about. So which is more likely - the committee wanted to give the middle finger to 2.4 billion Christians, which is suicide from a PR perspective, or they opted to leverage inspiration from a work which is relevant to the history of the Olympics themselves? Now, the execution of this performance was a bit gaudy and not what I'd consider appropriate for the event, but everyone jumping to to Da Vinci based solely on composition (figures seated at a long table) and not the thematic elements of the work is honestly hilarious and pretty on-brand for social media. That being said, can we focus on the athletes now, please? They've worked their whole lives for this and are being overshadowed by engagement-seeking dopamine junkies.