Two environmental activists doused a painting from the series by millstones, by painter Claude Monet at a German gallery on Sunday, just under a week after a similar stunt in the UK.
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The two activists, members of the Last Generation group, can be seen in a video that quickly went viral throwing mashed potatoes at the canvas on display at the Barberini Museum before sticking a hand on the wall.
#Mashed potatoes on #money:
What is worth more #For all – Art or life?Monet loved nature and captured its fragile beauty in his works.
Why are many more afraid of one of these images being damaged than of the destruction of our world itself? pic.twitter.com/0Rh1ZS6yjk
—Last Generation (@uprisingLastGen) October 23, 2022
“We are in a climate catastrophe and all you are afraid of is tomato soup or mashed potatoes projected onto a table,” said one of the activists in German, outraged at the address to people in the showroom and an accomplice who was filming the scene .
This was in reference to a virtually identical parade last week at the National Gallery in London, where activists sprayed tomato soup on Van Gogh’s Sunflower painting.
Like Van Gogh’s, the Claude Monet painting vandalized on Sunday was protected by glass to prevent damage, Minister Barberini said on his Twitter account. It can be publicly displayed again from Wednesday.