Was soup dumped on a Van Gogh simply the beginning? Copycat activists assault $110 million Monet portray

Two protesters from local weather activist group Letzte Era accomplished the stunt on the Museum Barberini in Potsdam, Germany on Sunday following one other related stunt just a few days earlier in London, when “Simply Cease Oil” protesters threw tomato soup at Vincent Van Gogh’s iconic Sunflowers portray. 

The thing in Potsdam was Monet’s “Les Meules”, or “Haystacks”, which was painted in 1890 and bought at an public sale in 2019 for over $110 million. On Sunday, it was lined in mashed potato by protestors who then glued their arms to the wall and gave their message to a digicam — the footage was uploaded by the group to Twitter shortly after. 

“Individuals are ravenous, persons are freezing, persons are dying,” the protestors mentioned within the video. 

“We’re in a local weather disaster and all you might be afraid of is tomato soup or mashed potatoes on a portray.” 

“You recognize what I’m afraid of? I’m afraid as a result of science tells us that we gained’t be capable to feed our households in 2050. Does it take mashed potatoes on a portray to make you hear? If now we have to combat over meals, when will you lastly begin to hear and cease enterprise as common?” 

Museum director “shocked” by incident

The museum’s director Ortud Westheider mentioned in a press release: “Whereas I perceive the activists’ pressing concern within the face of the local weather disaster, I’m shocked by the means with which they’re making an attempt to lend weight to their calls for.

“It’s within the works of the Impressionists that we see the extraordinary inventive engagement with nature.”

An investigation after the incident discovered that the portray itself had not suffered any harm, because it was protected by glass. The 2 activists have been charged with trespassing and property harm. 

Letze Era have carried out a number of stunts in Germany within the final a number of years, garnering nationwide consideration for a starvation strike in Berlin in 2021, and by gluing themselves to busy motorways earlier this yr. 

Art work seems to have turn out to be a favourite goal for such actions. This summer time Italian activists glued themselves to Sandro Botticelli’s Primavera in Florence’s Uffizi gallery, and Simply Cease Oil campaigners additionally glued themselves to the body of The Final Supper on the Royal Academy in London.