Organizers of the upcoming Summer Olympics and Paralympics known as Paris 2024 have unveiled the official "iconic posters" for the international sporting event, but the cartoon-like depictions of the French capital have already sparked controversy.
French illustrator Ugo Gattoni, who designed the colorful Art Deco posters, left out an important detail on of the city's most prominent landmarks - the cross that tops the dome of the Hôtel des Invalides, the 17th century museum, hospital and Old Soldier's Home.
Many other French symbols and monuments are represented in the Olympic poster, including the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe.
But the depiction of Les Invalides sans cross has angered some people, including public officials.
A Denial of French Identity?
"They are willing to deny France to the point of distorting reality to erase its history," charged François-Xavier Bellamy, a Member of European Parliament (MEP) and executive vice-president of the Republicans, a liberal-conservative political party.
"How can one understand Les Invalides by erasing the cross that constitutes its profound meaning? How can one claim to love a country when one does everything to destroy its roots?" Bellamy complained on social media.
And he was not the only one. Marion Maréchal, the lead MEP candidate for Reconquest!, a far-right French nationalist party, also expressed outrage.
"Why erase the cross at the top of the the dome of Les Invalides on the official poster of the 2024 Olympics? Why no French flag? What's the point of hosting the Olympic Games in France if it's to hide who we are?" she also said on social media.
"The work of traitors guilty of the fundamental denial of France continues," criticized Gilbert Collard, another member of Reconquest! who has been an MEP the past five years.
Just an artistic rendition?
"The official posters are a joyful, light-hearted artistic interpretation of a reinvented stadium city," the Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games said in a statement defending the work.
"Many elements could be reinterpreted by the artist. It is a representation which is neither exhaustive nor faithful to reality – the Tahiti wave is off the Marseille Marina, the Eiffel Tower is pink, the Metro passes under the Arc de Triomphe – (this) should not be subject to politically motivated interpretations," it said.
A source among the Paris 2024 organizers expressed incomprehension at this controversy, stating that the poster was merely an artistic rendition.
Furthermore, the source specified that the guidelines the Olympic Committee imposed the artist did not involve the removal of religious symbols.
It merely specified that the Olympic logo, number, and dates of the Summer Games had to be included.
Gattoni, the designer of the posters, also defended the work. "Through my drawing of the official posters, I'm not trying to represent objects or buildings in a conformist manner. I evoke them as they appear to me in my mind and without ulterior motives," he explained.
The last time Paris hosted the Olympic Games in 1924, one of the two official posters for the event depicted a javelin thrower.
In the background was the Basilica of Sacré-Cœur on Montmartre in the background.
It, too, was missing its cross.