Munich 1972: The Olympics That Handed the Poster to the Art World

The 1972 Munich Olympics produced much more than one official poster. Its wider visual programme brought major contemporary artists into the orbit of the Games, creating a group of posters that can appeal equally to sports collectors and people who normally buy modern art.

An Olympics with a design system

Munich 1972 is famous for a coordinated visual identity built around clear typography, pictograms and a bright colour palette. The art-poster programme sat alongside that system rather than simply illustrating individual sports.

David Hockney

Hockney's contribution brings the swimming pool — already an important subject in his work — into an Olympic context. It is recognisably Hockney without becoming a conventional sports illustration.

Eduardo Chillida

Chillida's contribution is more abstract, drawing on the sculptural and graphic language associated with his wider practice. It demonstrates the point of the series: artists were not being asked to imitate an advertising-house style.

Hans Hartung and Valerio Adami

Hartung's gestural abstraction and Adami's hard-edged figurative language create two more completely different answers to the same commission.

Are these sports posters or art posters?

Both descriptions can be useful. They were produced in connection with a major sporting event, but their authorship and imagery place them within the artists' broader bodies of work too. Categories are less important than describing exactly what the object is.

Why edition matters

Olympic designs have been reproduced extensively. Establish the physical poster's date, printer or publisher where known, dimensions and edition rather than assuming every sheet bearing a 1972 design was printed for the Games.

See our authenticity guide and poster artists guide for the wider context.

The Munich series is a particularly good place to start if you like posters precisely because they refuse to sit neatly between design, advertising and art.

Explore: David Hockney Munich 1972 · Eduardo Chillida Munich 1972 · Hans Hartung Munich 1972 · Valerio Adami Munich 1972 · Collecting original posters · How we check authenticity · Condition & grading · Framing