Paris, 1900. Among the hubbub created by the millions of visitors to the Universal Exhibition, cries rise: this is encouragement for the athletes of the Olympic Games! The challenges of this hopeful start to the century have immense stakes. For Pierre de Coubertin, they symbolize the ideal of moral and physical purity towards which the French must turn, like the ancient Greeks and their “healthy mind in a healthy body”. The Musée d'Orsay replays these memorable moments in the history of sport around a master canvas: Shuttlecock game, a masterpiece by the post-impressionist artist Maurice Denis, painted in 1900. From its light, pale and deep colors give birth to players with milky skin similar to nymphs, in an almost mythological wooded setting. The composition of the monumental canvas is of rare grace, like a witness to the sporting ideal of Antiquity. Celebrating its history, the institution enriches this display with a journey of combative, sporting and powerful sculptures, revealing to us the original elitist ideal of these Olympics.

Mark your calendars! On June 8 and 9, 2024 at 8 p.m., world-renowned choreographer Mourad Merzouki offers a hip-hop parade in the monumental nave of the Musée d'Orsay. In addition, on June 22, 2024, the Musée d'Orsay invites us to the ball to relive the excitement of the Olympic dance evening of July 11, 1924! On the program, charleston, foxtrot and lindy hop… on the track!

Did you know? The Musée d'Orsay was originally a train station built to welcome visitors to the 1900 Universal Exhibition, which hosted the second Olympic Games of modern times! A large banquet for the organizing committee of the shooting events even took place in the current institution.