A group of activists on Friday splashed pea soup onto a
Vincent van Gogh
masterpiece in Rome, in a protest they warned will continue until more
attention was paid to climate change.
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"The Sower", an 1888 painting by the Dutch artist depicting a
farmer sowing his land under a dominating sun, was exhibited behind glass and
undamaged.
Four activists were arrested, according to news reports.
The climate activists from Last Generation called their protest "a
desperate and scientifically grounded cry that cannot be understood as mere
vandalism".
"Non-violent direct actions will continue until citizens get answers
from their government on the demands to stop gas and coal and to invest in at
least 20 GW of renewables," they said in a statement.
Video images taken from inside a museum gallery crowded with visitors show
two young women throwing a liquid substance onto the painting.
They and a third woman are then seen gluing their hands to the wall as
shouting erupts in the room.
"For shame!" someone in the crowd can be heard shouting.
- 'Ignoble act' -
Climate activists have carried out a series of attacks -- using soup, cake
or mashed potatoes -- in Europe in recent weeks.
They have targeted masterpieces such as the "Mona Lisa" by
Leonardo da Vinci in the Louvre in Paris or "Girl with a Pearl
Earring" by Johannes Vermeer at The Hague's Mauritshuis museum.
In October, the group Just Stop Oil threw tomato soup over Van Gogh's
"Sunflowers" at London's National Gallery.
All of those paintings were covered by glass and were undamaged.
"Everything that we would have the right to see in our present and our
future is being obscured by a real and imminent catastrophe, just as this pea
puree has covered the work in the fields..." Last Generation said in its
statement Friday.
Italy's Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano condemned the protest, calling
it an "ignoble act that must be strongly condemned".
"Culture, which is the basis of our identity, should be defended and
protected, certainly not used as a megaphone for other forms of protest,"
Sangiuliano said in a statement.
"The Sower" is on show at Rome's Palazzo Bonaparte, part of an
exhibition of 50 paintings by Dutch master Van Gogh on loan from the Kroller
Muller Museum in Otterlo in the Netherlands.
The exhibit organisers, Arthemisia, did not respond to a request for more
information on the attack.
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