'Muscles & Mind: Irish Art Olympians' will be on display at the Waterford Gallery of Art from July 26 to November 26, opening in conjunction with the Paris Olympics.

John Treacy, a Waterford native who placed second in the 1984 Olympic marathon in Los Angeles, will open the event.

The show will feature works by some of Ireland's most well-known painters who represented their nation in the Olympics between 1924 and 1948 when painting was an Olympic sport, including Sir John Lavery, Jack B. Yeats, Letitia Hamilton, Mainie Jellett, Seán Keating, Flora Vere O'Brien, and more.

One of the exhibition's primary goals, according to the organisers, is to draw attention to how important art was to the early Olympics and raise issues about what it means for an artist to compete and represent their country.

The exhibition has unearthed several fascinating finds, such as the 1922 painting "The Bathers/Baigneurs" by Mainie Jellett, which was only recently discovered to have been part of the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics.

The Waterford Arts Office, Creative Ireland, and the Olympic Federation of Ireland are providing assistance for the show.