generic Climate Activists Vandalize $84.2 Million Van Gogh Painting
Two climate activists have defaced Vincent Van Gogh’s famous “Sunflowers” painting at the National Gallery in London.
Footage shows a pair of young women opening a can of Heinz tomato soup and pouring it over the artwork estimated to be worth nearly $84.2 million. Afterward, the duo glued their hands to the wall and lectured onlookers.
“What is worth more? Art or life? Is it worth more than food? Worth more than justice?” they asked onlookers. “Are you more concerned about the protection of a painting or the protection of our planet and people? The cost of living crisis is part of the cost of oil crisis. Fuel is unaffordable to millions of cold, hungry families. They can’t even afford to heat a tin of soup.”
Mad I got to see one of these events happen in person. Tin of beans thrown on Van Gogh’s sunflowers at the National Gallery in London. #juststopoil pic.twitter.com/tIV499AswH
— Ro Carey (@RonanCareless) October 14, 2022
Both are members of the British organization Just Stop Oil (JSO) that “demands” the United Kingdom government “end all new oil and gas.” JSO has been responsible for similar performative displays of protest in the past.
Earlier this summer, another pair of supporters taped up ‘modern’ revisions to John Constable’s bucolic scenery painting, The Hay Wain. Instead of the tranquil countryside, JSO’s version showed airplanes, rusted-out cars, and decaying trees. According to the organization, the overlay was “an apocalyptic vision of the future” showing “climate collapse and what it will do to this landscape.”
In a similar fashion, following The Hay Wain publicity stunt, the perpetrators glued their hands to the picture frame. “Their demand? NO NEW OIL. In times of inaction from @10DowningStreet it is down to the people to act,” the group tweeted.
The tradeoffs of such are usually more complicated than activists portray. Consider California, which relies heavily on natural gas in a statewide attempt to phase out fossil fuels and regularly grapples with “flex alerts” warning residents of impending rotating outages.
“California is the poster child of the green movement and the state’s struggling families are paying the price,” Power the Future founder Daniel Turner told Fox News. The costs of such initiatives are projected to fall disproportionately on lower-income households.
Van Gogh painted seven “Sunflowers” between 1888 and 1889 “to decorate his house in Arles, France, before a visit from his friend, the artist Paul Gauguin,” BBC reports. The National Gallery describes the paintings as among his most iconic and best-recognized works.
According to one museum employee, the painting is behind a glass pane and should be undamaged. A National Gallery spokesperson stated, “There is some minor damage to the frame but the painting is unharmed.”
