Sport

At school, we sometimes tend to oppose athletes and artists. However, sport and art often mix and sublimate each other. The meeting of these two disciplines is frequent in the history of art and more particularly in contemporary art.

Already during Antiquity, the Greeks devoted an absolute cult to the perfect athletic body. On pots and vases, artists painted the exploits of the competitors of the first Olympic Games in the 8th century BC.

Whatever the medium (photography, painting, sculpture, collage...), the musculature and the psychological state of the sportsmen, the places of training or the competitions are inexhaustible sources of inspiration for the artists. Between the representation of reality and the hijacking of a symbol, sport is a recurring theme for young artists.

Discover with Artsper our Olympic podium of artworks!

Photography is probably the first medium that comes to mind when representing sports. It is the only medium that allows us to capture images of the athletes' prowess at full speed. Thus, the shots are taken on the spot to offer a better rendering of the movement and to manage to capture the palpable tension on the field, the team cohesion, the crucial moment...

A leader of the new wave, Gerry Cranham had a career in athletics before becoming a coach. Passionate about photography, he takes pictures of the young people he coaches in order to correct their position and analyze their stride. Very quickly, he decided to convert his hobby into a real job. He became a sports photographer and quickly built a reputation as one of the leading sports photographers in England and internationally. His pictures of rugby, soccer, tennis, wrestling and swimming were published all over the world in the most prestigious magazines such as Sport Illustrated or The Observer.

But sport also inspired painters and it is found in all artistic movements of the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1853, Gustave Courbet painted "The Wrestlers", a large oil on canvas depicting two men practicing French wrestling in the old hippodrome of the Champs Élysées. To the right, in the background, one can see the audience, cheering the athletes. Among the Impressionists, Claude Monet developed his technique with "Les Régates d'Argenteuil", an 1872 painting in which the boats are reflected in the water in a magnificent way. In modern art, Nicolas de Staël's "Les Footballeurs" represents a soccer field in the middle of a match, but in an abstract way. The players are discernible thanks to the flat colors that make up the team jerseys.

You too can bring your passions to life through contemporary sports paintings, sculptures and photographs. Discover the work of well-known and emerging artists such as Victor Spahn, Isabelle Picarel, Michel Birot, Chiara Dazi and many others...

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Sport

Man putting the shot

Struggle

Jozsi & Szilvi Dancing 8

Men Fighting

Standing ballerina

Pointe shoes

Grand Sumo blanc

Rebond 30

Rebond 120

Working out, Argentario

En équilibre

Le plongeon III

Les petits champions... (Terre d'enfants)

Sports d'hiver

Rise

Summer memories

Formula 1 legends, red version

Golf, the sea and my Aston Martin

Jumping into Water

Bahamas Speed Week

Ballerina No. 5, Series XX

Les petits champions... "bloc bleu Majorelle" (Terre d'enfants)

Les champions bloc vert...(Terre d'enfants 2022)

Les champions..."bloc BEU CIEL" (Terre d'enfants)

La course

En équilibre

Muhammad Ali Apple

Senna - GP Monaco 1988

Golf time

Ballerina No. 3, Series XX

Ballerina No. 2, Series XX

Ballerina No. 1, Series XX

Olympique

Salvator Lionel Messi N 1

Formule 1

Souvenir - Digital Art digigraphie

Pont de l'île de Ré

2 Beachballers

Team Haring

Cap Horn

Pont de l'île de Ré

Freedom

Rainbow Skate incl gold butteflies (1/1)

Kobe Bryant - White (1/1)

Kobe Bryant - Gold (1/1)

Summer Vibes: Skateboard and Sunshine

Equitation

Movement

M'Bappé

The last dance

Waar is da feestje ? Grand Place de Bruxelles, 15 juillet 2018 - Le retour des Diables Rouges

Hoop dreams

On se tape un hamburger

Golfing in Normandy

Lamb I

Jean-Pierre Rives

Léon Marchand

Teddy

Altero

Mickey Messi the Champion

Caveman II

Ballet-2

Ballet-1

Art attack

Le Tiercé

Polo