There are more than 12,000 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athletes, more than 100 years of Olympic and Paralympic history, and endless stories to be told. This gallery will change content regularly and provides the Museum exciting opportunities to tell these many stories.
Currently, this gallery features artwork from LeRoy Neiman, the official Olympic painter for five Games, and a display for Paralympic swimmer, Trischa Zorn, the most decorated athlete in Olympic or Paralympic history.
Art has always played an important role in the Olympic and Paralympic Games. In fact, from 1912 to 1948, artistic events including architecture, literature, and painting inspired by sport were part of the Games themselves!
Although these activities have since been phased out and replaced, artists have continued to document and depict the excitement, the action, and the history exhibited on the world stage.
LeRoy Neiman is one of the most well-known of these athlete-inspired artists. Named the official painter of five Olympic Games, Neiman’s empowering pencil and paints captured Olympians at peak performance.
His work honors some of the greatest athletes to ever compete through the 1970s and 1980s, and his distinctive colorful styles and strokes became known as “Neimanism.”
You can see some of Neiman’s greatest pieces on display in the LeRoy Neiman exhibit at the United States Olympic and Paralympic Museum.
