Mona Lisa is not alone: How attacks on artworks have become a popular form of protest

On Sunday, two activists hurled soup at the famous Mona Lisa painting at the Louvre Museum in Paris. The two people who did this say they care more about having healthy food than about art. They wore shirts with the name of their group, which is called “Riposte Alimentaire” or “food response.” They splashed soup on the painting and talked about wanting food that’s good for people and the planet. People at the museum were shocked, and the police arrested the two troublemakers. This is not the first time that people who care about the environment have damaged important artworks. It has happened a few times in the last two years. Here’s a closer look. Soup for Sunflowers In October 2022, two activists from the Just Stop Oil group emptied cans of tomato soup over the glass protecting Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers in London’s National Gallery. The pair, who complained that art lovers were more concerned with paintings than the planet, were arrested and charged with damaging the frame. A month later, activists from the Last Generation group splashed pea soup onto another Van Gogh — The Sower — in Rome. The painting, exhibited behind glass, was also undamaged. Mash for Monet In October 2022, protesters from the German branch of Last Generation flung mash at a Claude Monet, Les Meules (The Haystacks), hanging in a museum in Potsdam. It too was protected by glass. [caption id=“attachment_13665772” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] This undated photo provided by Sotheby’s shows Claude Monet’s painting titled “Meules.” File image/AP[/caption] In June 2023, activists in Stockholm smeared red paint and glued their hands to the glass covering another of the French impressionist’s works, The Artist’s Garden at Giverny, in a Swedish museum. Glued to Vermeer In October 2022, a man in Dutch city of The Hague glued his head to the glass protecting Johannes Vermeer’s Girl With a Pearl Earring in the Mauritshuis museum. A second activist poured tomato soup on it. Hands-on with Goya In November 2022, two Extinction Rebellion activists each glued a hand to the frames of two paintings by Spanish master Francisco Goya in the Prado Museum in Madrid. The protest did not damage either painting. Painting Degas In April 2023, climate activists attacked a famous Degas wax sculpture — La petite danseuse de quatorze ans (Little Dancer, 14 years old) — in a Washington museum, smearing its Plexiglas enclosure with red and black paint. [caption id=“attachment_13665782” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] In April 2023, climate activists defaced a famous Degas wax sculpture, La petite danseuse de quatorze ans (Little Dancer, 14 years old), in a Washington museum, smearing its Plexiglas enclosure with red and black paint. Image Courtesy: @richardjgrayii/X[/caption] “Today, through nonviolent rebellion, we temporarily defiled a work of art to evoke the very real children whose suffering is certain if deadly fossil fuel companies continue to mine coal, oil and gas from the soil”, the group which claimed the action, which called itself Declare Emergency, wrote on Instagram. Taking a hammer to Velasquez In November 2023, Just Stop Oil protesters smashed the glass cover of a Diego Velazquez painting, The Rokeby Venus at the National Gallery in London with hammers. They said they were inspired by the work of a suffragette who slashed the painting in the early 20th Century during a campaign for the right to vote. With inputs from AFP