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The Arts Intel Report

The Body in Motion

Augustin Rouart, Le Nageur, 1943.

July 24 – Nov 17, 2024
Avenue Winston Churchill, 75008 Paris, France

The human body has been a subject of fascination among artists since the very first Olympic Games, which took place in the fifth century B.C. In Ancient Greece, the rigid and stylized forms of the Archaic period gave way to a more naturalistic approach, with special attention paid to anatomical features, proportion, and balance. This exhibition at Le Petit Palais looks at artists’ renderings of the body in motion. Fifty works are drawn from the museum collection, starting with those ancient depictions, then moving on to works by Albrecht Dürer and Rembrandt van Rijn, and concluding with art that pictures moments from modern Olympic Games. —Elena Clavarino

Photo: © Paris Musées / Petit Palais