Climate activists battled weekend crowds at Paris’ Louvre museum on Sunday to sprinkle the iconic “Mona Lisa” with canned soup.
Video Two women are shown throwing A red liquid on the painting before crossing the wooden barrier protecting the crowd.
One of the women took off her jacket to reveal a T-shirt that read “Ripost Alimentaire,” a food sustainability activist group in France whose name means “food response.”
“What’s more important?” another woman tells the screaming crowd. “Art or healthy sustainable food?”.
Museum staff could be seen running to block the view of the workers and the painting.
In an emailed statement, the Louvre told NBC News that there was no damage to the painting, which has been protected under armored glass since 2005.
The “Salle des États” (Room of States) where the painting is displayed was “peacefully evacuated”, it said, and closed for 90 minutes while the display was cleaned.
The statement said the museum would file a complaint, though it was unclear whether it was to law enforcement officials or the activist group.
Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” depicts an Italian noblewoman with a mysterious smile. It is one of the most famous art works in the world and attracts 10 million visitors to the Louvre every year.
On its website, Riposte Alimentaire said the French government is breaking its climate commitments and is seeking a system equivalent to France’s state-sponsored health care system to provide people with better access to healthy food as well as decent incomes for farmers. Called to do.
Angry French farmers have been using their tractors to block roads and slow traffic across France for days to demand better wages for their produce, less red tape and protection from cheap imports.
Some farmers have threatened to gather in Paris from Monday to block main roads leading to the capital, the first potentially major domestic crisis for new Prime Minister Gabriel Atal.
International galleries have increasingly become a platform for climate protesters, who have targeted famous paintings using food and paint to draw attention to the climate crisis.
The “Mona Lisa” was previously targeted in 2022 by an activist who sprinkled cake on the painting and shouted, “The artist says to you: Think about the Earth. That’s why I did it.”
In 2022, activists from the group “Just Stop Oil”, attempting to pressure the UK government into not renewing new oil and gas licenses, threw soup over Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” at the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, London. Gave.
