French artistic director Joachim Roncin and artist Ugo Gattoni present the official posters for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Ivry-sur-Seine, near Paris, France, February 20, 2024. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo
PARIS (Reuters) - With a nod to Surrealism and an obsession with detail, the official posters for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, unveiled on Monday, highlight the capital's historic monuments and sports facilities.
The respective posters for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, designed by Parisian artist Ugo Gattoni, complement each other to form a double poster.
They illustrate the main historical monuments in Paris, such as the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and the Grand Palais.
They also show the sports venues and facilities to be used during the Olympic and Paralympic Games: the Stade de France, the River Seine and the Pont Alexandre III, but also the sea, in a reference to Marseille and the Teahupoo surfing site in Tahiti.
The official posters are inspired by the surrealist artistic movement, with a level of precision and detail unprecedented in the history of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Through this artistic choice, Paris 2024 is paying tribute to the "Surrealist Manifesto" written by Andre Breton and published in 1924, the year of the last Olympic Games to be held in the French capital.
Eight official mascots of Paris 2024 are hidden in these posters in a thinly veiled reference to the children's puzzle book series "Where's Wally?"
"This represents some 2,000 hours of work," Gattoni told reporters.
The posters will be displayed at the Musee d'Orsay until Monday.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
