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Claude Monet’s painting Les Meules was targeted by two climate protestors at the Barberini Museum in Germany on Sunday, October 23. The protesters threw mashed potatoes at the painting.
A video of the same went viral on social media. The protesters, who have been confirmed to be members of a German environmental group called Letzte Generation, threw mashed potatoes on Monet’s painting and glued their hands to the wall. They explained that their actions were a warning about an upcoming climate catastrophe.
A similar incident happened nine days ago in London where two girls threw tomato soup on a painting by Van Gogh.
The viral video has earned the wrath of the internet, with many expressing their outrage on Twitter.
Netizens react towards the damage to Claude Monet’s painting
The damage to Claude Monet’s painting has been trending all over the internet. The reaction towards the incident has been mixed. While a few hailed the protesters as heroes, others termed the incident disgusting.
Letzte Generation threw mashed potatoes at Monet's painting to remind people of the damage from fossil fuel
Letzte Generation posted the video on their social media page and wrote,
“We make this #Monet the stage and the public the audience. If it takes a painting – with #MashedPotatoes or #TomatoSoup thrown at it – to make society remember that the fossil fuel course is killing us all. Then we’ll give you #MashedPotatoes on a painting!”
The protesters said that people are starving, freezing, dying, and are in a climate catastrophe, and they are afraid of tomato soup or mashed tomatoes in a painting. They added,
“You know what I’m afraid of? I’m afraid because science tells us that we won’t be able to feed our families in 2050. Does it take mashed potatoes on a painting to make you listen? This painting is not going to be worth anything if we have to fight over food. When will you finally start to listen? When will you finally start to listen and stop business as usual?”
Barberini Musem’s spokesperson revealed that the painting was covered with glass which was not damaged.
The spokesperson added that when the cops arrived at the spot, the protestors were easily removed from the wall. The museum mentioned in a tweet that the painting will return for public viewing on October 26.
The museum’s director Ortrud Westheider said that although he is well aware of the activists’ concern for the climate catastrophe, he is shocked to see the way they are attempting to fulfill their demands. Westheider also said,
“It is in the works of the Impressionists that we see the intense artistic engagement in nature. The many landscape paintings in the Hasso Plattner Collection can inspire visitors to reflect on and question their relationship to the environment.”
According to Letzte Generation’s website, they are the last generation that can save society from collapsing and facing this reality, they “accept high fees, criminal charges and deprivation of liberty undaunted.”
The New York Times reported that Monet's Les Mueles painting sold for around $110 million at an auction in New York in 2019.
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