Baron Pierre de Coubertin’s father was a painter in the classical style, focusing mostly on religious subjects, but he instilled in his son a deep appreciate for aesthetic beauty and the role it can play in stirring the soul and enriching life.  Raised in Paris as it was transformed into the illustrious capital of modernity we know today, Pierre learned early to respect the role architectural beauty in public life as well.  An educator at heart, he not only wanted to meld sport into education, he wanted to ensure that art had its place in the classroom too.  In the Olympic Games, of course, he sought to sustain the link between sport and culture throughout his life.

“If one had to define art from the sole perspective of its role in education, I would say that art is first and foremost the sense of beauty ... To awaken the sense of beauty in young minds is to work at bettering the life of the individual and at perfecting the life of society.”

This quote is drawn from the chapter entitled Art in Education, which is found in Notes on Public Education, a book by Coubertin published in 1901.