Security Prevents Just Stop Oil Activist From Throwing Soup at Painting in Paris’ Musée D’Orsay
The woman planned to target paintings by Van Gogh and Gaugin.
Museums around the world have been on alert recently, due to a series of incidents involving food being thrown at works of art by protestors who look to divert attention to climate change. Just last week, an activist from Just Stop Oil glued his head to Johannes Vermeer’s iconic Girl with a Pearl Earring painting at The Hague’s Mauritshuis museum, while another vandalized a Rolex store in London.
Today, security guards at Paris’ famed Musée d’Orsay intercepted a Just Stop Oil activist who was about to target Vincent Van Gogh’s Self-portrait in Saint Remy. First reported by French newspaper Le Parisien, a guard noticed a woman removing her sweatshirt to reveal a white tee that said “Just Stop Oil”, as several other members followed to film her.
The woman was going to glue her head to Van Gogh’s Self-portrait before tossing soup at another painting by Gaugin. Unlike previous incidents, security was able to intervene just before the crime was committed and let the activist exit the museum without arrest. Nonetheless, Musée d’Orsay has filed a formal complaint to city officials for voluntary attempted damage.
