Paris has recently put on one of the most flamboyant, art-filled, and rule-breaking Olympics opening ceremonies ever – and it's now facing severe international backlash. 

During a controversial tableau, drag queens, a transgender model, and dancers lined a long table in an image that brought to mind Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper. Later, at that same table, a man clad only in blue body paint sang on a dinner plate surrounded by fruits. 

Following the scene, church leaders and conservatives were outraged and condemned it as "a mockery" and "insulting to Christian people"; an advertiser announced to pull out from Olympics broadcasts.  

The ceremony's artistic director, Thomas Jolly, however, said he had not been inspired by Last Supper. "There is Dionysus who arrives on this table."

A controversial scene during the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony has been viewed by many as a parody of Last Supper

One of the most important paintings in the world, Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, depicting the final meal Jesus shared with his twelve apostles before his crucifixion, is a sacred image to Christians as it marks the moment after Jesus announces that he is prepared to sacrifice himself for humanity's sins. 

The scene that seemed to evoke the religious image happened towards the end of the ceremony's eighth tableau, Festivité, a segment dedicated to French fashion.

On a red-carpeted catwalk where the works of young French designers were showcased, French actor and singer Philippe Katerine emerged on a crown of fruit and flowers resembling a giant dinner plate, practically naked and painted blue. 

In the background, taking center stage was local DJ-producer Barbara Butch, an LGBTQ+ icon who calls herself a "love activist". Flanked by a group of drag stars on both sides, she wore a silver, halo-like headdress – a typical Last Supper iconography, to many. 

When asked about the controversy, Thomas Jolly, the ceremony's creative director and one of France's most talented young directors known for genre-bending theatre, said it was not meant to "be subversive, or shock people, or mock people," but "to include everyone, as simple as that."

"Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group. [The opening ceremony] tried to celebrate community tolerance," a spokesperson for Paris 2024 told a press conference. "We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offence we are really sorry."

Jolly later confirmed the Last Supper was not his inspiration, but Dionysus, the God of celebration and wine in Greek mythology, and the father of Sequana, the goddess to the Seine River. "The idea was to have a pagan celebration connected to the gods of Olympus."

Some others, too, did not find its reference to the Last Supper immediately clear. One obvious observation was that there were at least seventeen performers on the stage, versus Jesus' twelve apostles.

A statue of Dionysus | The Louvre Museum

Jan van Bijlert | The Feast of the Gods | The Musée Magnin in Dijon, France

Following the controversy, the Musée Magnin in Dijon, France, posted on X an image of a 17th-century Dutch painting of the Greek Olympian gods titled The Feast of the Gods. "Does this painting remind you of something?" the museum wrote, adding a winking-face emoji. 

Painted by Jan van Bijlert between 1635 and 1640, The Feast of the Gods depicts ancient Greek deities gathered for a feast on Mount Olympus. At the center is Apollo, god of the sun, recognizable by a halo around his head; in the foreground is Dionysus, distinguished by the grapes. 

Interestingly, despite its common connotation to Christianity, the iconography of a halo traces back to Hellenistic and Roman art, where the sun-god Helios and Roman emperors often appear with a crown of rays. Due to its pagan origin, it was avoided in early Christian art, and only until the 6th century was the halo used regularly in representations of Christ, the angels, and the saints. 

As such, the scene in question might be more aptly interpreted as a homage to the Greek mythology about the history of the Olympic Games – originally religious and athletic gatherings where gods convened every four years at the sanctuary of Zeus in Olympia.