two environmental activists sentenced to prison terms for throwing soup on Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers”

Two environmental activists from the Just Stop Oil group were sentenced by British courts on Friday, September 27, to prison terms for having thrown soup on a masterpiece by Vincent Van Gogh, Sunflowersat the National Gallery in London.

Phoebe Plummer, 23, was sentenced to two years in prison, and Anna Holland, 22, received a 20-month prison term. They had only very slightly damaged the frame surrounding the 1888 work, protected by glass.

Their coup, on October 14, 2022, was part of a series of actions launched since the beginning of October 2022 by Just Stop Oilwhich calls for an end to the exploitation of hydrocarbons in the United Kingdom.

“You had no right to do what you did to the ‘Sunflowers’”said Judge Christopher Hehri, who sentenced the two young women. “The soup could have seeped through the glass” and damage, “or even destroy” the famous painting, he added.

A few hours after this verdict, on Friday, three other activists from Just Stop Oil again sprayed two people with soup. Sunflowers by Van Gogh at the National Gallery in London. In an online message, the group contested the sentence imposed on its two activists.