THIS week saw a new pair of climate activists defacing a precious work of art. Two activists from the Letzte Generation (left generation) environmental group threw mashed potato soup at a painting by Claude Monet. The painting "Meules" (or "Haystacks," 1890) hangs, protected behind glass, in the Museum Barberini in Potsdam, Germany. It is on loan to the museum as the most valuable Impressionist work ever sold at an auction at the price of $110.7 million at Sotheby's in 2019. This action was similar to a performative act from last week.
Two young climate activists from the group Just Stop Oil threw tomato soup on Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" in London's National Gallery last week. It was a choreographed movement, from opening the can of soup, throwing it on the glass-covered painting, then applying glue on the palm of their hand, going down on their knees and grasping the wall with their glue-encrusted hands. They have done this with other artworks in the past, calling it a nonviolent form of protest.
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