On Sunday, Claude Monet’s painting was briefly covered in starch when climate protesters threw mashed potatoes at it. It was the latest in a series of art-related actions aimed at drawing attention to climate change and environmental destruction.
The painting, which was known in 1890 as inclinationsBought at auction by ARTnews Top 200 Hasso Plattner Collectors 2019 – $110.7 Million. It is on loan from his collection to the Barberini Museum, a Potsdam institution where works from the Plattner Collection have been on frequent display since the space opened in 2017.
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Gilles Lizte, the German activist group that led the protest, He said In a statement afterwards that “the painting was not damaged in action. In stark contrast to the immeasurable suffering that today’s floods, storms, and droughts bring us as harbingers of impending disaster.”
Barberini Museum also said in a statement Post it on social media inclinations It was not damaged because the painting is “glazed”. The museum plans to put the work back on display on Wednesday.
Letzte Generation activists said in comments to the media that the protest was aimed at highlighting the contrast between the idyllic nature portrayed by Monet and the dangers that real-life scenes like today are exposed to.
Amy Van Palen, a spokeswoman for the group, said in a statement: “Monet loved nature and captured its unique and fragile beauty in his works. How are so many more afraid of destroying one of these images of reality than of destroying our world itself, which Monet so admired?”
in video During the demonstration, two protesters picked up containers filled with mashed potatoes, sprayed them on the plate, and stuck them with their hands on the wall below the lot. The whole time, the potatoes were hanging on the canvas, on the frame around them.
The measure was clearly intended to recall an event organized earlier this month at the National Gallery in London by Just Stop Oil, the group focused on climate change that appears to have started these kinds of protests at art museums in recent months. .
Just Stop Oil had already staged protests in which they affixed themselves to frame works at Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Manchester Art Gallery and the Royal Academy. It appears to have prompted activists in Italy, Australia and other countries to organize similar demonstrations.
Letzte Generation has targeted paintings of Lucas Cranach the Elder and Raphael in museums in Berlin and Dresden. While the public response from art experts in most countries has been somewhat muted, German officials have decried Gilles Letzte’s actions, with the German Cultural Council Issuing a public appeal To stop the protests because they endanger beloved works of art.
But it was the work of the Just Stop Oil National Gallery that generated the most outrage from critics and politicians who accused the group of failing to recognize the potentially harmful effects of their actions.
At the National Gallery, two young activists threw tomato soup against a painting of flowers by Vincent van Gogh, then glued themselves to a wall. They said they were seeking to push the British government to take faster action to combat the effects of climate change. Van Gogh’s painting was not damaged.
An intense outpouring soon ensued, with many expressing confusion, anger, and horror at the protest.
Letzte Generation activist Miriam Hermann appears to be responding directly to the discussion about Sunday’s Just Stop Oil protest. At the protest, she said, “People are starving, people are freezing, people are dying. We are in a climate disaster. All you fear is tomato soup or mashed potatoes on a plate. Do you know what I’m afraid of?”
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