The action of the young women was spectacular but only damaged the frame of the canvas dating from 1888. It was protected by a window.
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Two environmental activists from the group Just Stop Oil were found guilty of vandalism on Thursday (July 25) after throwing tomato soup on Van Gogh’s masterpiece “Sunflowers” at the National Gallery in London.
Anna Holland and Phoebe Plummer, both 22, were found guilty at Southwark Crown Court in London and will be sentenced on September 27. They both carried out the spectacular act on October 14, 2022, which caused only minor damage to the frame surrounding the 1888 work, which was protected by glass.
At the time, Just Stop Oil called for an immediate halt to all new oil and gas projects in the UK, a move the new Labour government has taken. The group is now calling for a phase-out of fossil fuels by 2030.
Wearing T-shirts that read “Just Stop Oil,” the two young women had projected the contents of two cans of soup onto the work. After sticking to a wall, one of them, Phoebe Plummer, had shouted: “What is more valuable, art or life?” “Are you more concerned about protecting a painting than protecting our planet and its inhabitants?” she had asked.
Since that action, other environmental activists have targeted other internationally renowned works of art, including the Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris, whose bulletproof glass was doused with soup.
