this time they threw mashed potatoes at a ‘Monet’

First modification: 10/24/2022 – 01:13

Monet was the victim this time. And it is that two activists threw mashed potatoes on the work ‘Les meules’ that is exhibited in the Barberini Museum, located in Potsdam. The activists, who also stuck their hands to the wall of the painting, were identified as supporters of the climate activist group “Letzte Generation” (“Last Generation”).

From the group, in a statement they justified their action as an approach to society of the “same question that two brave young women asked in the National Gallery in London with tomato soup a week ago: What is worth more, art or life?”.

According to “Letzte Generation”, “more and more people refuse to accept in silence the progressive destruction and endangerment of human life on our planet”. The exhibition room was immediately closed so that an expert could examine the pictorial work.

The activists were temporarily detained and an investigation was opened for trespassing and property damage. The attack also occurs in the run-up to the annual UN Conference on Climate Change (COP 27) to be held in the city of Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

“My heart stopped”

The museum’s spokeswoman pointed out that the painting ‘Les meules’ is the most expensive work by Monet that has been sold. “My heart stopped when I found out what happened,” she said. The painting was protected by glass, so it did not suffer major damage.

‘Les Meules’ was painted in 1890 and was acquired by the Barberini Museum in 2019 for the impressive sum of 110.7 million dollars at an auction of the famous house of these necessities, ‘Sotheby’s’.

Several German officials spoke out against the action. “This is cultural barbarism and not a political statement. They are harming their cause,” said the mayor of Potsdam, Mike Schubert, while the environment minister of the state of Brandenburg, the Green party member Ursula Nonnemacher, said that “the fight against the climate crisis is not strengthened with attacks to famous paintings.

Manja Schüle, regional minister for culture, also made her criticism known. “Activists are undermining the issue and deliberately destroying our cultural treasures,” she concluded.

Third such action in 14 days

The affectation of works of art to denounce, in this case, the inaction towards the measures to alleviate climate change is not new, although in the last 14 days this questionable mode of support or defense of the cause has been revived.

Along with ‘Les Meules’ by Monet, on October 14 ‘The Sunflowers’ by Vincent Van Gogh were targeted by the group “Just Stop Oil”, when two activists threw tomato soup at the painting and also hit the wall. A modus operandi similar was experienced in Melbourne, Australia, when two people stuck their hands to the work ‘Massacre in Korea’, by Pablo Picasso.

The common factor of the three attacks was the climatic cause. ‘La Gioconda’, a frequent target, was also the target of a cake in May this year. The armored glass that protects the masterpiece prevented a greater evil. The attacker was reduced by the security of the Louvre Museum, in Paris.

Other attacks and damage to famous paintings

The bulletproof glass that covers Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘La Gioconda’ was for a greater evil. A mentally challenged man threw a stone at the painting causing the paint layer to detach at the height of the painting’s left elbow, damage that is still visible. The incident occurred in 1965.

He was also the target of another attack, but in 1974. This time he was not in his usual place, he was in the National Museum of Tokyo, in Japan, when a local citizen threw paint at him as a protest against the policies of the museum that It made access difficult for disabled people. Since then, ‘La Gioconda’ has never left Paris.

‘The Night Watch’, by Rembrandt; the ‘Venus of the Mirror’, by the Spanish Diego Velázquez; Picasso’s ‘Guernica’; or ‘Liberty Leading the People’, by Eugène Delacroix among many others, have been vandalized or simply damaged by reckless visitors, such as the boy who stuck a piece of gum in the painting ‘The Bay’, by the abstract expressionist artist Helen Frankenthaler, a native of from the United States.

with EFE