A pie to the most famous work of art in the world: a boy tried to ruin Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, but protected by a safety glass. The episode took place on Sunday May 29th at the Louvre in Paris. The young man, thanks to a wig and a wheelchair, managed to fool security by passing a lady with mobility problems. This probably put him ahead of the tourist line and just a few steps from the Opera. There are no videos of the incident, but photos and videos of the cream-stained Mona Lisa are circulating on social media as a security officer tries to clean up the damage done.
In other testimonies, the young man is seen being turned away from the museum while pushing his wheelchair. The reason that would have driven the gesture would be to save the planet. However, what he wanted to prove by doing so remains a mystery. In fact, this case doesn’t really speak to the safety of the museum, which got distracted all too easily and wasn’t the first time this had happened. The vandal seems to have no intention of damaging the work, just conveying his message with the strong gesture of protest.
It is not the first time that the Mona Lisa is the protagonist of such acts: The most important was a Bolivian in a confused state who managed to damage the painting by throwing a stone. The protective glass didn’t hold up. A piece of oil paint was peeling off one corner and it took weeks of repairs to restore the painting to its original condition. In 1956, acid was thrown at the glass without causing any damage. The most recent such gesture, in chronological order, was in 2011, when a Russian woman threw a cup at the painting in protest at not having obtained French citizenship. In this case, too, the damage was avoided by the protective glass.