Climate Activists Throw Soup On Van Gogh Masterpiece

Wednesday 9 November, 2022In the latest in a string of attacks on renowned art, climate activists have thrown pea soup onto a Vincent Van Gogh painting in Rome.

The painting in question is the 1988 painting, “The Sower”. It was on display in Rome's Palazzo Bonaparte when the incident happened.

The group behind the incident are called Last Generation and they described it as a protest that is “a desperate and scientifically grounded cry that cannot be understood as mere vandalism”.

Videos from the incident show two young women throwing the soup onto the painting, while a third woman glues her hand to the wall.

The group states that these “non-violent actions will continue until citizens get answers from their government on the demands to stop gas and coal and to invest in at least 20 GW of renewables”.

During the incident the crowd in attendance can be heard shouting “for shame”, while Italy's Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano described the protest as an "ignoble act that must be strongly condemned".

The painting itself was protected by a glass shield and unharmed.

This is latest in a list of recent similar protests, which include attacks on the ‘Mona Lisa’ by Leonardo da Vinci in the Louvre in Paris, and on ‘Girl with a Pear Earring'' by Johannes Vermeer in The Hague.

"The Sower" is part of an exhibition of 50 paintings by Dutch master Van Gogh on loan from the Kroller Muller Museum in Otterlo in the Netherlands.

(PRESSAT)

Distributed by https://pressat.co.uk/