In the Art de Vivre à la Française, is the pursuit of beauty an obligation?
It’s certainly a constant: seeking beauty, learning to see it everywhere, in the small details of everyday life as much as in grand human creations, is a defining feature of the Art de Vivre à la Française. But the way it is done, is light, playful, and a little irreverent. It is the gaze of a flâneur, pausing to capture a beauty that is often fleeting or unexpected.
These Games gave us many moments of beauty in the spirit of the Art de Vivre à la Française. Among many others, thanks go to the brilliant photographers – Jérôme Brouillet, Ben Thouard, Odieux Body, Flora Metayer, Geoff Lowe, Buda Mendes, and all the others whose names we couldn’t find – who captured these striking moments that move and surprise us all at once.
Because beauty, in the Art de Vivre à la Française, is multidimensional, eclectic, provocative, and deeply emotional. We seek it, we treasure it and we simply cannot live without it.