Van Gogh

Climate activists have thrown tins of what appears to be tomato soup over a Van Gogh painting of sunflowers at the National Gallery in London.

They also threw a red substance - what appears to be tomato soup - over the painting. Are you more concerned about the protection of a painting or the protection of our planet and people?" Is it worth more than food?

Following disruption over the weekend, two Just Stop Oil activists have thrown soup on a Van Gogh 'Sunflowers' painting at the National Gallery in London.

It’s day fourteen of demonstrations across London that have been linked to the group. Officers from the Metropolitan police soon arrived at the gallery and arrested the pair on account of criminal damage and aggravated trespass. The pair have been identified as Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland, both of whom entered the National Gallery at 11am this morning, sporting Just Stop Oil T-shirts.

Just Stop Oil activists were arrested after throwing tins of soup at Vincent van Gogh's 1888 Sunflowers painting at the National Gallery. | ITV News London.

There is some minor damage to the frame but the painting is unharmed." They also threw a red substance – what appears to be tomato soup – over the painting. "Are you more concerned about the protection of a painting, or the protection of our planet and people?

The orchard blossom scene, from the collection of Microsoft founder Paul Allen, is being sold by Christie's.

It depicts a line of mourners outside the tower of the old church and the cemetery. Curated by Maria Teresa Benedetti and Francesca Villanti, the show includes 26 paintings and 14 works on paper from the museum in Otterlo, in the east of the Netherlands. While painting on this spot, Van Gogh was for part of the time accompanied by a Danish artist friend, Christian Mourier-Petersen, who was also working in Arles. Now known as the Museum of Pop Culture, this might seem an unusual place for a Van Gogh masterpiece, but the venue had been established by Allen. The orchard scene was purchased by Allen in 1998. On 3 April 1888 he wrote to his brother Theo: “I’m in a fury of work as the trees are in blossom and I wanted to do a Provence orchard of tremendous gaiety.” Embarking on his new life in the south of France, he was full of enthusiasm for what lay ahead. Van Gogh set up his easel a metre or two away for the vertical Pink Peach Trees, slightly changing the angle from which the trunks were painted. A typical example that was in Van Gogh’s print collection was Woman Picking Cherry Blossoms (around 1846) by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, one of his favourite artists. Although quickly dropping this idea, he continued to think of the two horizontal canvases as pendants, or a pair. [the estate of Paul Allen,](/2022/08/26/microsoft-mogul-paul-allens-art-collection-heads-to-christies-and-could-be-first-to-hit-dollar1bn) the co-founder of Microsoft along with [Bill Gates](/keywords/bill-gates). The most expensive work by the artist ever sold at auction was Portrait of Dr Paul Gachet (June 1890), which went for $83m, but that was back in 1990—and prices have risen considerably since then.

Two activists from environmental campaigning group Just Stop Oil have carried out a provocative piece of art vandalism in London this morning, throwing Heinz ...

On the group’s Twitter, they say: ‘Thanks to skyrocketing gas prices, millions of British families won’t be able to afford to heat a can of soup this winter. Are you more concerned about the protection of a painting or the protection of our planet and people?’ In a video clip, the pair are seen approaching the work, before opening the cans of soup and throwing it over the world-famous artwork.

Two Just Stop Oil supporters have been arrested after throwing tinned soup at one of Vincent Van Gogh's most famous paintings to protest against fossil ...

They also threw a red substance – what appears to be tomato soup – over the painting. “Are you more concerned about the protection of a painting, or the protection of our planet and people? Both have been arrested for criminal damage and aggravated trespass.

Two activists from campaign group Just Stop Oil have been arrested after throwing tomato soup on Vincent Van Gogh's famous “Sunflowers” painting.

Just Stop Oil have been protesting in the U.K.'s capital for the past two weeks. The issuance of such licenses had previously been put on hold in 2020 as the government said it was establishing a "climate compatibility check." government put an end to all new oil and gas projects in the country. The cost of living crisis is part of the cost of oil crisis, fuel is unaffordable to millions of cold, hungry families. Is it worth more than food? Worth more than justice?

Vincent Van Gogh, Sunflowers (1888) at the National Gallery, London. Photo by VCG Wilson/Corbis via Getty Images. Two climate activists from the group Just Stop ...

[Artnet News](https://www.facebook.com/artnet)on Facebook: [Want to stay ahead of the art world? “What use is art when we face the collapse of civil society?” Just Stop Oil posted on Twitter around the time of today’s action. Because the demonstrators never affix themselves to the works directly (opting for a frame, glass covering, or base), experts According to the museum, it caused only minor damage to the frame of the painting, which was protected by glass and is unharmed. They can’t even afford to heat a tin of soup.” “Fuel is unaffordable to millions of cold, hungry families.

Climate activists have thrown tins of what appears to be tomato soup over a Van Gogh painting of sunflowers at the National Gallery in London.

They also threw a red substance - what appears to be tomato soup - over the painting. Are you more concerned about the protection of a painting or the protection of our planet and people?" Is it worth more than food?

Two activists attacked the famous painting at the National Gallery, in London.

[works including Rubens’s “Massacre of the Innocents,”](https://www.dw.com/en/climate-activists-damage-frame-of-a-rubens-painting-in-munich/a-62927968) which hangs in the Alte Pinakothek, in Munich. Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” had nothing to do with climate change, she said. And Just Stop Oil planned further actions, she added. It is one of six surviving images of sunflowers that van Gogh made in 1888 and 1889. Within minutes, the stunt grabbed attention worldwide, and many social media users expressed concern for the painting’s condition. [Just Stop Oil](https://juststopoil.org/), a group that seeks to stop oil and gas extraction in Britain, entered room 43 of the National Gallery in London, opened two tins of Heinz cream of tomato soup, and threw them at Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers,” one of the treasures of the museum’s collection.

LONDON — Climate protesters threw soup over Vincent van Gogh's "Sunflowers" in London's National Gallery on Friday to protest fossil fuel extraction, ...

Several also glued themselves to the road, blocking traffic. The two protesters also glued themselves to the gallery wall. The soup splashed across the glass covering the painting and its gilded frame.

There was no damage to the painting as it is covered by glass, gallery says. Protesters throw soup onto Van Gogh painting.

It is not known if the activists plan to throw sunflowers at Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s “Soup Cans” work of art. [according to the gallery](https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-63254878), which also said the activists had been arrested. In the video, one of the activists said the “cost of living crisis is part of the cost of oil crisis” and that some people cannot even afford to heat a tin of soup.

Activists from Just Stop Oil have thrown the contents of two Heinz tomato soup cans over Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers at the National Gallery this morning - ...

The artist apparently created them to decorate his house in Arles in southern France, before a visit from his friend, fellow painter Paul Gauguin. Take Michelangelo for example, the decadent Renaissance painter renowned for his ‘stinginess’, who was much richer than his rivals and may have been one of the wealthiest artists in history. The cost of living crisis is part of the cost of oil crisis, fuel is unaffordable to millions of cold, hungry families.

Just after 11 a.m. on Friday morning, two young climate protesters entered a room in the National Gallery in London containing one of Vincent van Gogh's ...

It can feel overwhelming facing the impacts of climate change, but there are [ways to cope with climate anxiety](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/climate-change-anxiety-dread-cope/2021/07/14/471eb264-e4d4-11eb-b722-89ea0dde7771_story.html?itid=lb_more-on-climate-change_6). As temperatures rise, heat waves are more often sweeping the globe — and parts of the world are [becoming too hot to survive](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2021/climate-change-humidity/?itid=lb_more-on-climate-change_4&itid=lb_more-on-climate-change_3). As seas rise, others are exploring [how to harness marine energy](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/interactive/2021/cop26-scotland-wave-energy-renewables/?itid=lb_more-on-climate-change_14&itid=lb_more-on-climate-change_8). area to push President Biden to declare a “climate emergency.” Another group, known as the Tyre Extinguishers, has been letting the air out of SUV tires across the [United Kingdom](https://www.vice.com/en/article/5dg7qn/who-are-the-tyre-extinguishers) and in [New York](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/27/tire-deflators-suv-new-york-climate-crisis), arguing that the vehicles use more gas and are harmful to pedestrians and cyclists. At least to the activists involved, the fact that the protest had gone viral was probably viewed as a success. [glued themselves](https://twitter.com/UltimaGenerazi1/status/1550481833690890241?s=20&t=UFTmNPnb5LJ5ItK09fxuwQ) to a painting by Sandro Botticelli at the Uffizi museum in Florence. [climbed on the roof](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/17/extinction-rebellion-activists-london-underground) of a commuter train in London, preventing people from getting to work and causing a scuffle between commuters and protesters. Now that attention for that has cooled down, they have moved on to at least the appearance of defacing artworks, in an attempt to attract more eyes. “There is some minor damage to the frame, but the painting is unharmed,” the National Gallery said in a statement. The media gets accustomed to particular types of activism; a march or a sit-in that once commanded attention soon gets written off as old news. But the climate art stunt was still a strange form of protest, one that seemed more likely to alienate people. In July, protesters glued themselves to John Constable’s “The Hay Wain,” also in London’s National Gallery, after pasting their own “apocalyptic” vision of the future over the painting’s surface.

Activists Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland then glued themselves to the art-gallery wall next to the vandalised Sunflowers, by Vincent Van Gogh, one of 11 ...

Is it worth more than food? Activists Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland then glued themselves to the art-gallery wall next to the vandalised Sunflowers, by Vincent Van Gogh, one of 11 paintings of sunflowers which took two years to paint, in 1888 and ’89. Worth more than justice? But where is the painting based and is it indefinitely ruined? A protester shouted: “What is worth more? Where is the Van Gogh sunflower painting and why was it attacked?

Activists with the group Just Stop Oil threw soup on a Vincent van Gogh painting at the National Gallery in London.

Still others raised the possibility that van Gogh was not the right artist to target. [Just Stop Oil](https://www.artnews.com/t/just-stop-oil/), threw tomato soup on van Gogh’s Sunflowers, an important example of the Post-Impressionist’s style and one of the National Gallery’s many treasures. [splashed with slime](https://twitter.com/suchavogue1/status/1580883859432157185) and sardonically [asking what van Gogh did](https://twitter.com/StokeyyG2/status/1580881421102567425) to hurt the climate. They then spread glue across their hands and place them to the wall. We all own that painting.” [said](https://twitter.com/andrewdoyle_com/status/1580872772590239746) the protest “represents a repudiation of civilisation and the achievements of humanity.”

Safe protest stunts raise the profile of the climate crisis and ask us to think about the bigger picture.

Safe protests such as this alert us to the urgency of our ever-worsening climate crisis, and the complacency and complicity of our government. It might be argued that the specific choice of painting or gallery has about as much relevance to the protesters’ cause as the particular flavour of soup. [global species loss](https://livingplanet.panda.org/en-GB/), and warned that the destruction of Amazon rainforest habitat in particular is approaching a point of no return. Just this week the WWF and the Zoological Society of London announced that we have reached a new high for Climate activists have a keen understanding of the value and vulnerability of our natural world, as did Van Gogh. This particular protest has of course caused some minor cost and disruption to the gallery, but the shock factor is what makes a good stunt.

WALKING into Van Gogh's paintings, via this stunning immersive experience, is a feast for the senses - and a moving insight into a tortured soul.

Says council leader Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe: “Van Gogh Alive is not just an art exhibition, it’s an incredible and immersive experience for all the senses. Owner Raj Parmar says it’s an “honour” to be hosting Van Gogh Alive, and bookings are coming in from around the UK. “A whole community grew around the church, with streets and a school. [events](/leisure/events/) - says the Van Gogh exhibition is an “unforgettable cultural experience” for visitors of all ages. With 800 works of art displayed on six metre high screens, the size of the venue is crucial. Being immersed in these changing images and colours connects the visitor to the mind and soul of this brilliant but troubled artist.

Footage posted by the Just Stop Oil campaign group showed activists opening two Heinz tins and then hurling the contents over the 1888 work, before kneeling ...

Footage posted by the Just Stop Oil campaign group showed activists opening two Heinz tins and then throwing the contents over the 1888 work on Friday morning, before kneeling down in front of the masterpiece and gluing their hands to the wall beneath it. Sunflowers is the second, more famous, Van Gogh painting to be targeted by the group, with two climate activists gluing themselves to his 1889 Peach Trees in Blossom, exhibited at the Courtauld Gallery, at the end of June. Footage posted by the Just Stop Oil campaign group showed activists opening two Heinz tins and then hurling the contents over the 1888 work, before kneeling down in front of the masterpiece and gluing their hands to the wall beneath it.

Two women have been charged with criminal damage after climate change protesters threw soup over Vincent van Gogh's painting "Sunflowers" at London's ...

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