PARIS: Two demonstrators demanding the right to “healthy and sustainable food” threw pumpkin soup against the bulletproof glass enclosing Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” in Paris, according to an AFP reporter and the museum.
The latest in a line of such attacks against artworks calling for more action to safeguard the environment has occurred during nationwide protests by French farmers.
An AFP reporter on the scene said that two women on Sunday morning threw streams of orange-colored soup across the glass shielding the smiling woman, causing gasps from the onlookers at the Louvre Museum in the French capital.
“What holds greater significance? The protestors stood in front of the artwork and took turns asking, “Art or the right to healthy and sustainable food.”
“Your farming system is ill. They declared, “Our farmers are dying at work,” and then the security personnel left the room.
The prosecutor’s office in Paris announced that both activists were in custody.
According to the Louvre Museum, the women used a coffee thermos to conceal the pumpkin soup.
Eatables in moderation are permitted within the museum, although eating is not permitted in the exhibition areas.
The museum declared that there was “no damage” to the artwork, and the public was once again able to enter the room containing the masterpiece after it had been closed for about an hour.
Riposte Alimentaire, or “Food counterattack,” was the group that took credit for the prank.
The “beginning of a campaign of civil resistance with the clear demand…: social security of sustainable food,” they claimed, was symbolized by the soup flinging.
They cited a 996-person survey conducted by the polling firm Ipsos last year, which revealed that one in three French individuals did not always have access to enough nutritious food for three meals a day.
According to group member Till Van Elst, the state should permit individuals to purchase some food goods at discounted prices by use of a specialized social security card. Democratic assemblies would select the food to get subsidies under the plan.
“We want citizens to really be able to decide what is in their plates,” he stated to AFP.
Rachida Dati, the minister of culture, criticized the soup attack.
Future generations own the Mona Lisa as a piece of our cultural legacy. It cannot be targeted for any reason,” she stated on X, formerly Twitter.
According to government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot, “I’m not sure that the Mona Lisa is the biggest polluter in France,” as she said to France 3 television. “What was that about?”
The demonstration on Sunday comes amid days of protests by French farmers calling for increased prices, less taxes, and fewer regulations.
Months before the elections to the European Parliament, which are viewed as a crucial litmus test for President Emmanuel Macron’s administration, the government has been attempting to prevent unrest among agricultural workers from growing.
As some farmers threatened to block highways into the capital on Monday, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal rushed to propose new measures on Sunday.
The museum’s action comes after a string of similar protests by anti-global warming activists against well-known paintings, demanding greater action to phase out fossil fuels and stop global warming.
Two Just Stop Oil protestors made headlines in October 2022 when they spilled tomato soup over the glass enclosing Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” at the National Gallery in London.
They grumbled that people who appreciated art cared more about paintings than the environment.
The “Mona Lisa” has already been the target of multiple attacks.
In May 2022, a guy hurled a custard pie at her while claiming that artists were not paying enough attention to “the planet”. Her protective glass shell made sure she didn’t get hurt.
Since a Bolivian guy injured her left elbow in December 1956 by throwing a rock at her, she has been protected by glass.
In 2005, the glass was rendered bulletproof.
An empty teacup that a woman flung at the painting in 2009 slightly scratched the case.
