Stephanie G. Mathis On Sunday, two climate activists splashed soup on the Mona Lisa in Paris’ Louvre Museum. The liquid orange landed on the bulletproof glass case of the Renaissance masterpiece, but it did not damage it.
The New York Times Roger Cohen reported that nearby spectators gasped when two young women flung soup from bottles. The women then duck under the wooden barrier to stand on either side of Leonardo da Vinci’s art, facing an audience of onlookers.
What is more important?” “Art or the right to a healthy, sustainable food system?” They asked in French. Then, museum security guards led them away. “Our agricultural system has a disease.”
According to CNN’s Stephanie Halasz and Chris Liakos, museum officials claim that security intervened quickly in the protest. Staff members placed black screens to try to block the view of spectators. They also evacuated the Salle des Etats, which houses the Mona Lisa.
One protester was wearing a T-shirt with the name “Riposte Alimentaire,” which is French for “Food Response.” The group is a part of the A22 movement. This coalition includes climate activism groups such as Extinction Rebellion, Stop Oil, and others.
These groups have been targeting famous artworks from around the globe as part of their climate activism. In other cases, activists have stuck themselves on famous paintings such as Horatio McCulloch’s My Heart’s in The Highlands in Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery. Other times, they have splattered paintings with substances such as paint or food.
At the National Gallery in London, in October 2022, for instance, protesters from Just Stop Oil threw tomato soup on Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers. One of the activists asked, “What’s more valuable–art or human life?” Are you more concerned with the protection of an artwork or our planet and its people?
The Mona Lisa is not without its dangers. A museum employee took off the painting in 1911, which increased its fame internationally. CNN reports that the painting has been protected behind glass ever since a visitor damaged the frame in the 1950s by pouring acid on the canvas. In 2009, the woman threw the ceramic cup, and two years ago, the man spread cake on the glass before telling the spectators, “Think about the Earth.”
The Times writes that the latest attack on the painting “will heighten security concerns before the Paris Olympics,” scheduled to begin in six months.
In a tweet posted on X, France’s newly appointed culture minister, Rachida Datti, condemned Riposte Alimentaire vandalism and expressed support for historical artworks and the Louvre staff.
Google Translate: “The Mona Lisa belongs to future generations, just like our heritage,” she wrote. “No reason can justify [it]” being targeted!
