The image went around the world: Vincent van Gogh’s famous sunflowers in the National Gallery in London, smeared with canned tomato soup, in front of them two young women with their hands glued to the wall. The soup toss of climate activists from the Just Stop Oil group has become a symbol of a movement seeking attention in times of mounting crises. Two women are on trial in London.
The women, aged between 20 and 21 at the time of the crime last October, denied criminal damage charges at Southwark Crown Court on Monday. Both pleaded not guilty, the court said on request. After the action, the National Gallery announced that only the frame had been damaged, the image itself – with an estimated value of around 84 million euros – was protected by glass. A few hours after the attack, the painting was back on the museum wall as if nothing had happened. The trial is not scheduled to begin until mid-2024 due to a major delay in the UK judiciary.
For Just Stop Oil, the issue is clear: “The judge should dismiss the case.” The fact that the British government is granting licenses for new oil and gas fields, contrary to scientific knowledge and international agreements, shows “that we do not have a functioning State and that the accused are acting to protect society, the British State and the millions already suffering from dangerous extreme weather events are affected,” says the group. Other members of Just Stop Oil have already been arrested.
Soup-damaged sunflowers inspired similar actions around the world: in Potsdam mashed potatoes, in Vienna oil, in Canada maple syrup flew to paintings. The narrative is always the same: why protect ancient cultural assets and representations of nature, but destroy nature itself? But the public echo was often negative. Climate advocates also criticized the actions and feared defensive backlash or a split between the cultural sector and climate protectionists. Still others complain that only the pros and cons of actions are discussed, not the climate crisis.
“It’s definitely a risk,” said protest researcher James Ozden of the Social Change Laboratory in an interview with the German Press Agency. However, activists have been successful in raising awareness of the issue. Even if only a tenth of the debate revolves around the challenges of climate change, that’s more than the often-overlooked street protests.
The researcher draws a parallel with artistic protests against road blocks. “Everybody hates it,” says Ozden. However, in a survey of around 1,400 Britons last November, its think tank found that Just Stop Oil blockages on London’s M25 ring road did not dampen respondents’ approval of actual climate protection measures. Instead, Ozden found slightly more support for climate activism — though more so for more moderate groups than Just Stop Oil itself.
Just Stop Oil demands that the London government immediately stop granting new licenses for oil and gas production. The current British government is still committed to the goal of climate neutrality by 2050 and the internationally agreed target of 1.5 degrees. However, London continues to promote fossil fuels, although, according to scientists, this contradicts itself.
While the organization Extinction Rebellion, also known for its radical tactics, recently announced that it no longer wants to organize disruptive action in Britain, Just Stop Oil wants to continue with that. “Disturbances and civil resistance are often unpopular when they unfold – it is only in later years that people look back and understand that the actions were necessary and justified,” the group says – so further soup bids cannot be ruled out.
The National Gallery and other British museums declined to disclose whether they intend to protect themselves more strongly from soup, glue and similar dangers in the future. In principle, no information is provided about safety precautions, it said on request.