During Game 7 of the NBA Finals, at the moment when LeBron James nails on the scoreboard what seemed like two easy and decisive points scored by Andre Iguodala of the Golden State Warriors, the sense of exaltation, disbelief and beauty is widespread, so much so that Sky Sport’s Italian commentator Flavio Tranquillo comments on the gesture “it’s the Mona Lisa, it’s not a block.”
The comment accurately describes the beauty of the moment, and also the magnitude of a gesture that immediately entered basketball history, since it was precisely LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers who were to become NBA champions a few minutes later.
Often sport precisely because of its epic beauty is associated with artistic manifestations that elude even rational understanding of reality, and athletes on the lawns, arenas and parquet floors seem to be protagonists of heroic scenes painted by some artist’s imagination. Seizing a similarity in gestures and plasticity of movements, the Instagram account Art But Make It Sports compares some of the most famous paintings in art history with moments of sports, from soccer and basketball to baseball and athletics.

The similarity in poses between Renaissance canvases or medieval altarpieces with some athletes’ exultations or actions is striking, almost amusing in some cases, such as when an abstract painting by Clyfford Still ends up recalling a dunk by Michael Jordan. Following Art But Make It Sports becomes a must.