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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Subcategories

Sport

For Degas

Masaï football, Parc national d'Amboseli, Kenya

Kung Fu session, Quartier de Wakaliga, Kampala, Ouganda

Le départ arrêté, N'Djamena, Tchad

L’effort mécanique Dar Es Salaam, Tanzanie

Force et Concentration

Muay Thai

Nadal

Mountains - steps to heaven

Tour de France

Narturo

The Boss - EA

The JumpKaws - EA

Ballerina. Black swan

Torse Épigastrique (Opus 377)

Athlétisme I

Glory day

Summer dance

Untitled

On Defense - 21st Century, Contemporary, Figurative Portrait, Horse Rider, Sport

S is for Sumo

Off the wall

Bliss

Evasion

Bondi: Swimming and Surfing in Harmony

Scène de corrida

Eloquent fight

Death04026

Marathon 9

Marathon 8

Marathon 7

Marathon 6

Marathon 5

Baron Pump: Portrait of Admiral of the Fleet, 1st Baron Anson, photobombed by Lil Pump

Olympic Balloons – Sarajevo 1984

Le Bel Endormi

La Tempête

The Boxer

Runners in Violet

Runners in Blue

Runners in Green

Runners in Red

Runners in Orange

Lithographie originale de Folon

Senna la légende

Ouverture 2

Géants

Granny punch bleu nuit

Granny punch vert

Fuite en bleu

I want it painted red

To the moon and back

Fabien Galthié

Golf without a hole

Granny Bat en rouge

Opéra de Beijing - La Vierge gagne en force

Brutal Ballet

Sunset | Hot Summer

Sailing

The Action

Horse riding on the beach

East, Olympic Games Beijing

Le grand saut 5

The Seventeenth - the Burlington Golf and Country Club

Joueur de Golf

Brasil 2