(London) Environmental activists from the Just Stop Oil movement on Friday threw tomato soup at Van Gogh’s masterpiece the Sunflowerson display at the National Gallery in London, causing only slight damage to the frame, according to the museum.
Posted at 8:30 a.m.
According to press images published by the movement, which calls for the immediate cessation of any new oil or gas project, two activists threw the contents of two cans of soup on the work, the price of which is estimated at more than of $84 million.
Police were “quickly on site at the National Gallery this morning after two protesters threw a substance at a painting and then stuck themselves to a wall,” Scoltland Yard said in a statement. They were arrested in particular for “degradation”.
The museum said in a statement that two people “appeared to stick to the wall adjacent to Van Gogh’s Sunflowers (1888)” and also “thrown a red substance-which appears to be tomato soup-onto the painting”. . The frame suffers from “minor damage” but the painting is “intact”, assured the National Gallery.
This new action by the group, which had already targeted works of art in the past, comes within the framework of a month of actions where they have also blocked roads on several occasions.
“The cost of living crisis comes from fossil fuels – everyday life has become unaffordable for millions of families who are cold and hungry – they cannot even afford a can of soup,” said Phoebe Plummer, 21-year-old activist quoted in a statement from the movement. “At the same time”, “people are dying” because of “fires and droughts caused by climate change”, she argued. “We cannot afford new oil and gas projects”, they will “take everything away”.