2024-09-28 11:46:23
The protest comes hours after two environmental activists were jailed for the same incident in 2022.
Three Just Stop Oil activists threw soup on two of Van Gogh’s paintings at London’s National Gallery just hours after two other members of the protest movement were jailed for the same incident in 2022, British media reported.
The three activists emptied the contents of cans of Heinz tomato soup onto two of Vincent van Gogh’s sunflower paintings.
Just Stop Oil said the action was a “sign of defiance” in response to the sentencing of the two activists who were sentenced earlier yesterday.
The three were arrested, and the paintings were undamaged, the National Gallery reported.
One of the causes of Just Stop Oil is ending the extraction of fossil fuels. One of the arrested activists stated the following:
“We will be held accountable for our actions today and face the full rigors of the law. But when will the executives of the fossil fuel companies and the politicians they bought be held accountable for the criminal damage they inflict on every living being?”.
The incident came after movement activists Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland received sentences of 2.3 years and 20 months respectively. In 2022, they also caused damage with tomato soup to the 17th-century Italian gold frame of Van Gogh’s famous 1888 painting Sunflowers, which was estimated to be worth £10,000. In the latest incident, the same painting came under attack again, as well as “Sunflowers” from 1889.