Sarajevo 1984 Winter Olympics
Gottfried Helnwein
Austrian, born 1948
1983
A lithographic poster in which Gottfried Helnwein turns a skiing victory into a charged, cinematic moment to promote the Sarajevo 1984 Winter Olympic Games.
The image arrests you with a hyperreal athlete frozen mid-cry—white race suit, red number 11 and Olympic rings—flanked by two long red skis against a clear, almost surreal blue sky.
By bringing Helnwein’s photorealistic, emotionally immediate style into public advertising, the poster helped modernize Olympic visual identity and showed how graphic design can shape a host city’s international image.
Medium
Lithograph
Dimensions
33 1/2 × 24 1/4" (85.1 × 61.6 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Krešimir Penović
Accession
200.2016.7
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
