Ahead of the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, I thought I’d post a reminder of Ireland’s first ever Olympic medal. A silver medal was awarded to Ireland at the 1924 Olympic Games for this painting by Jack Butler Yeats, brother of the poet William Butler Yeats:
Ireland only gained independence in 1922 so 1924 was the first Olympics at which Ireland competed as a separate nation. It may surprise you to learn that art competitions were a part of the Olympic Games from 1912 until 1948, as were competitions in music and literature. The 1924 Gold Medal for painting was won by an artist from Luxembourg called Jean Jacoby who specialized in sporting themes.
Although it was a style Yeats only started to experiment with around 1920, The Liffey Swim (which you can see in the National Gallery of Ireland) is clearly an Expressionist work – the unusual colour palette and texture of the paint are characteristics of that movement – but it also serves as an interesting bit of social history. The Liffey Swim is a regular event in Dublin (except during the Covid-19 pandemic) but only began in 1920 so it was fairly new when Yeats painted it. He captures the excited atmosphere surrounding the event by placing the viewer in the middle of a huge crowd struggling to get a good view, with the swimmers only shown in cursory detail. You see far more of the spectators than you do of the race!
