After the soup on the protective glass of “The Mona Lisa”, a look back at the actions of environmentalists targeting works of art

The most famous painting in the world was the target of a demonstration by environmentalists on Sunday at the Louvre in Paris. This latest coup is part of a series of striking actions launched for more than a year in major museums. Reminder of previous operations.

Before The Mona Lisa, a masterpiece by Vinci whose protective glass was doused with soup on Sunday at the Louvre Museum in Paris by activists, other works of art have been targeted by environmental movements around the world. Here are precedents since October 2022.

Soup on “The Sunflowers” ​​and “The Sower” by Van Gogh

In October 2022, two young women wearing “Just Stop Oil” T-shirts projected the contents of two cans of tomato soup onto Van Gogh’s masterpiece The sunflowers at the National Gallery in London. A month later, another painting by the Dutch painter, THE Sower, exhibited in Rome as part of an exhibition at the Palais Bonaparte, had been targeted by soup throwing by environmental activists. As The Mona Lisathese two paintings were protected by glass and had not been damaged.

Puree and paint on Monets

In October 2022, environmental activists threw mash on The Millstones by Claude Monet, protected by glass in a museum in Potsdam, Germany. Last Generation environmental activists claimed responsibility for the act in the name of their fight against fossil fuels. A few months later, in June 2023, at the National Museum in Stockholm, two environmental activists spread red paint on the window protecting another painting by Claude Monet, The Artist’s Garden in Giverny.

“The Girl with a Pearl Earring” by Vermeer

In October 2022, environmental activists wearing T-shirts from the “Just Stop Oil” collective attacked “The Girl with a Pearl Earring” by Johannes Vermeer, at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague. One had stuck his head against the glass that protected the painting, while another had emptied a can that appeared to contain tomato sauce, without damaging the painting.

Hands glued to Goya paintings

In November 2022, two environmental activists glued their hands to the frames of paintings by Francisco Goya at the Prado Museum in Madrid, to draw attention to global warming. The paintings targeted, The naked Maja And The Maja dressedwere not damaged.

Flour on a work by Warhol

Also in November 2022, environmental activists covered a BMW repainted by American artist Andy Warhol with flour in Milan, claiming to want “sound the alarm on climate collapse”.

Painting on a Degas sculpture

In April 2023, climate activists smeared red and black paint on the base and the Plexiglas cage surrounding There Little Dancer of fourteen years by Degas, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

A Velázquez targeted with the hammer

In November 2023, activists from the “Just Stop Oil” environmental movement smashed the protective glass of a Velázquez painting at the National Gallery in London with a hammer, There Venus in the mirror.