Climate Activists Toss Mashed Potatoes on Painting by French Impressionist Claude Monet in Germany

Two activists have been arrested by German police after they allegedly threw mashed potatoes at a Claude Monet painting in an effort to bring attention to climate change.

The two individuals — a man and woman, whose identities have not been shared by authorities — "smeared" Monet's "Grainstacks" painting at the Barberini Museum in Potsdam, the capital of the state of Brandenburg on Sunday, police said in a statement.

An "immediate conservation investigation" found that the famed painting, which Monet crafted in 1890, sustained no damage from the stunt, given that it is placed behind a layer of protective glass, the museum said on Twitter.

The painting is now set to return back to its display by Wednesday, the museum added.

RELATED: Why Climate Activists Are Gluing Their Hands to Treasured Works of Art

In a video of the incident tweeted by Letzte Generation, the protestors, who are being investigated for alleged property damage and trespassing, said the stunt was done as a wake-up call to face climate issues.

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"We are in a climate catastrophe and all you are afraid of is tomato soup or mashed potatoes on a painting. You know what I'm afraid of? I'm afraid because science tells us that we won't be able to feed our families in 2050," one protester said, per a translation provided by The Guardian. "Does it take mashed potatoes on a painting to make you listen? This painting is not going to be worth anything if we have to fight over food. When will you finally start to listen? When will you finally start to listen and stop business as usual?"

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The incident by the two German activists on the weekend comes amid various acts performed by other protestors in museums just this month alone.

Earlier in October, two climate activists shocked guests at London's National Gallery when they threw two cans of tomato soup on Vincent van Gogh's "Sunflowers" painting. The work was painted by Van Gogh in the late 1880s and is one of six surviving works depicting sunflowers by the famous artist, per The New York Times.

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The soup caused minor damage to a gilded frame around the painting, but the artwork itself — protected by a layer of glass — was unharmed, the Associated Press said. After throwing the soup at the painting, both activists squeezed glue onto one of their hands and stuck it on a wall.

According to ABC News, the activists are members of Just Stop Oil, a group that has staged similar stunts to demand the British government halt new oil and gas licenses to help slow climate change. Police arrested both of the activists for criminal damage and aggravated trespassing, according to The Guardian.

RELATED VIDEO: Climate Activists Throw Tomato Soup on Vincent Van Gogh's 'Sunflowers' at London's National Gallery

Before that, on Oct. 9, two climate change protestors from the group Extinction Rebellion glued their hands to the protective layer covering Pablo Picasso's "Massacre en Corée" (Massacre in Korea) at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia.

In July, Just Stop Oil protestors glued themselves to a copy of Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper" at London's Royal Academy of Arts.

In 2019, a series of studies published in Nature and Nature Geoscience claimed that temperature rises around the planet over the last 150 years are part of a normal cycle in nature and that there was "no doubt" humans are playing a part in climate change.