Create

"Permanently glue them to the wall": Viral video of climate protestors throwing mashed potatoes on Monet painting sparks outrage

Les Mueles by Claude Monet became a target of climate protesters (Image via thelastshow/Twitter)
Les Mueles by Claude Monet became a target of climate protesters (Image via thelastshow/Twitter)

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.

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! https://t.co/HBeZL69QTZ

The viral video has earned the wrath of the internet, with many expressing their outrage on Twitter.

@ABC I say permanently glue them to the wall.

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.

@yoga_vegan1 @nexta_tv Why? This actually works against their goals, creating worldwide hate towards these terrorists.
@nexta_tv We are evolving backwards 🤦‍♂️
@nexta_tv if i had a penny every time eco activists defaced a well known painting with food and then glued themselves, id have 2 pennies it's not much but it's weird it happened twice
@nexta_tv Terrorism.Nothing more.
@GosiaNotGosia @nexta_tv These people only discredit the environmental movement. This act causes not sympathy, but disgust
@nexta_tv This does not advance eco-sensible policies
@nexta_tv I've had it with these trust fund terrorists. Full arrests and prison time.
@RequiemBell86 @disclosetv It got your attention. They succeeded. You probably waste more food weekly that they just threw on the painting.

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?”
youtube-cover

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.

Barberini Museum where the incident happened (Image via Monika Skolimowska/Getty Images)
Barberini Museum where the incident happened (Image via Monika Skolimowska/Getty Images)

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.”

Mirjam und Benjamin befinden sich in Polizeigewahrsam.Mirjam and Benjamin have been taken to jail. https://t.co/5hwCyKkEzz

The New York Times reported that Monet's Les Mueles painting sold for around $110 million at an auction in New York in 2019.

Quick Links

Edited by Somava
Be the first one to comment