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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Photography, Diego, Mark Leech

Mark Leech

Photography . 60 x 40 x 0.1 cm Photography . 23.6 x 15.7 x 0 inch

£939

Photography, Highbury, Gerry Cranham

Gerry Cranham

Photography . 40 x 60 x 0.1 cm Photography . 15.7 x 23.6 x 0 inch

£1,506

Painting, L'Animal, Pascal Perrin

Pascal Perrin

Painting . 80 x 100 x 4 cm Painting . 31.5 x 39.4 x 1.6 inch

£4,428

Painting, Winters dawn, Ben Labarthe

Ben Labarthe

Painting . 100 x 73 x 2.5 cm Painting . 39.4 x 28.7 x 1 inch

£3,985

Painting, Attaquant, Aurino Jottar

Aurino Jottar

Painting . 100 x 83 x 3 cm Painting . 39.4 x 32.7 x 1.2 inch

£3,144

Painting, Slapshot, Ferenc Flamm

Ferenc Flamm

Painting . 88.9 x 94 x 3.8 cm Painting . 35 x 37 x 1.5 inch

£1,298

Painting, Rugby 6, Arno Lanzi

Arno Lanzi

Painting . 73 x 54 x 1 cm Painting . 28.7 x 21.3 x 0.4 inch

£753

Print, S is for Sumo, Peter Blake

Peter Blake

Print . 102.5 x 77 x 0.1 cm Print . 40.4 x 30.3 x 0 inch

£2,657

Painting, Sotogrande, Elena Done

Elena Done

Painting . 97 x 130 x 1.8 cm Painting . 38.2 x 51.2 x 0.7 inch

£3,610

Photography, Dunk, Rodrigo

Rodrigo

Photography . 23.1 x 35.6 x 0.1 cm Photography . 9.1 x 14 x 0 inch

£2,656 £2,126

Painting, Victor Wembanyama pop, PyB

PyB

Painting . 20 x 20 x 2 cm Painting . 7.9 x 7.9 x 0.8 inch

£124

Painting, 28 O3 2O14, Oksana Mas

Oksana Mas

Painting . 53 x 66 x 4 cm Painting . 20.9 x 26 x 1.6 inch

£3,454

Photography, My Time, Fabrizio Alzati

Fabrizio Alzati

Photography . 20 x 27 cm Photography . 7.9 x 10.6 inch

£310

Photography, Ali I, Gerry Cranham

Gerry Cranham

Photography . 30 x 45 x 0.1 cm Photography . 11.8 x 17.7 x 0 inch

£877

Painting, Jethou, Alain Abramatic

Alain Abramatic

Painting . 80 x 40 x 3 cm Painting . 31.5 x 15.7 x 1.2 inch

£1,116

Painting, Mirrors,, Roman Rembovsky

Roman Rembovsky

Painting . 50 x 59.9 x 2 cm Painting . 19.7 x 23.6 x 0.8 inch

£1,986

Painting, Perast, Alexander Shandor

Alexander Shandor

Painting . 80 x 100 x 2 cm Painting . 31.5 x 39.4 x 0.8 inch

£4,867

Painting, Game over, Baptiste Laurent

Baptiste Laurent

Painting . 105 x 105 x 0.3 cm Painting . 41.3 x 41.3 x 0.1 inch

£2,214

Painting, Golf, Jordi Sàbat

Jordi Sàbat

Painting . 80 x 80 cm Painting . 31.5 x 31.5 inch

£1,948

Photography, Teddy, Eliot Blondet

Eliot Blondet

Photography . 50 x 75 x 0.1 cm Photography . 19.7 x 29.5 x 0 inch

£1,284