Three attacks on works of art by environmentalists in just 14 days

In all three cases the perpetrators were activists trying to draw attention to the climate crisis.
In just 14 days, activists in the fight against climate change have attacked prominent works of art to draw attention to global warming.

This Sunday it was the turn of a painting by Claude Monet from the “Rack” series, in a museum near Berlin, but on October 14 in London the attack was against Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers”, and on October 9 October two people stuck their hand to Pablo Picasso’s painting “Massacre in Korea”, exhibited in Melbourne (Australia).

In all three cases the perpetrators were activists trying to draw attention to the climate crisis.

Also this year, on May 25, the painting of La Gioconda, one of the main attractions of the Louvre Museum in Paris, was attacked, at which a visitor threw a cake, although the work was not damaged when the cake hit the glass. armored vehicle that has protected the oil painting for six decades. The attacker was subdued by the security of the French museum.

Among the very numerous list of notable paintings that have suffered intentional attacks, apart from attacks against works of art in the context of wars and armed conflicts, are the following.

– “The Gioconda”

In addition to the failed attack suffered last May, Leonardo da Vinci’s emblematic work collects attacks: in 1956 a man with mental problems threw a stone at the painting, which broke the protective glass of the work and caused the pictorial layer to detach. the height of the left elbow of the Monna Lisa. These damages, despite the restoration, are still visible.

Bulletproof glass was then installed, which made it possible for the painting not to be damaged in another attack, this time with paint, thrown in 1974 by a woman when the painting was on display at the National Museum in Tokyo (Japan). The attacker was protesting against the museum’s policy, which made it difficult for disabled people to access it.

It was then decided that La Mona Lisa would not leave the Louvre, but this did not stop a woman of Russian nationality from throwing the mug she had just bought in the museum shop at the painting in 2009 in protest at having been denied French citizenship. The canvas was not damaged.

– “The Night Watch” (Rembrandt).

This masterpiece that the Dutch painter painted in the 17th century has also received several attacks. In 1911 she was stabbed for the first time, but the cut was shallow and only tore the varnish.

Also with superficial damage was the attack in 1990 carried out by a psychiatric patient with acid, thanks to the quick intervention of the museum’s security guards.

Much more serious was the damage that was done to the canvas when it was transferred from its original location, in the Kloveniersdoelen in Amsterdam, to the Town Hall in Dam Square: as it did not fit into the town hall wall, part of the left side and top were cut out, which meant the loss of three characters who were in the original, a copy of which is preserved in the National Gallery in London.

– «Venús del Espejo» (Velázquez).

This work suffered an attack in 1914 in the National Gallery in London by the suffragette Mary Richardson, who stabbed it seven times. Richardson was sentenced to six months in prison.

– «The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist» (Leonardo da Vinci).

Also exhibited in the National Gallery in London since 1962, that same year it was attacked with red paint by a German painter, for which it was protected with glass. In 1987 it was shot, which caused some damage precisely due to the protective glass particles, which is why it was decided to display it protected by armored glass.

– «Guernica» (Picasso).

In 1974 an art dealer wrote in red paint on Pablo Picasso’s Guernica, then exhibited at the MoMa in New York, the words “Kill Lies All.” The paint was cleaned and the painting was undamaged.

– «Danae» (Rembrandt)

In 1985, at the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, the Lithuanian Bronius Maiguis sprayed the work with sulfuric acid and stabbed it several times. The painting, after twelve years of restoration, returned to the museum in 1997 protected by armored glass.

– “Freedom leading the people” (Eugène Delacroix)

In 2003, a young woman made an inscription with a marker at the bottom of the painting. The work was on display at the Louvre Museum in Lens (France).

– “The Argenteuil Bridge” (Claude Monet)

In 2007, several people entered the Musée d’Orsay in Paris at night and damaged the painting, which was left with a crack of about ten centimeters, apparently the result of a punch.

– Untitled painting by Cy Twombly.

In July 2007, a woman kissed a white painting by the American artist Cy Twombly in a museum in Avignon (France) and left a lipstick mark from her lips on the canvas. The woman, who defended that her kiss was “an act of love and an artistic act” was sentenced to a 1,500 euro fine and 100 hours of social work.

– “La Bahía” (Helen Frankenthaler)

In March 2006, a twelve-year-old boy participating in a school visit stuck a piece of gum on the painting “The Bay” by the American abstract expressionist painter Helen Frankenthaler, exhibited at the Detroit Institute of Arts (USA). The gum left a small stain but the paint could be restored.

– «Woman on red sofa» (Picasso).

In June 2012, a man sprayed gold spray on the painting painted by the Malaga painter in 1929 and exhibited in the Menil collection in Houston (USA). The painting could be completely recovered.

In addition to paintings, many other works of art have suffered major attacks, including iconic sculptures such as “The Pietà” by Michelangelo, in the Roman Basilica of Saint Peter, which in 1972 lost an arm, an eye and part of the nose after a hammer attack; or “The Little Mermaid” by Edward Eriksende, in Copenhagen, who lost her arm -1984-, was decapitated twice -1964 and 1998-, torn from her base with explosives -2003- and attacked with paint on several occasions .

Marcel Duchamp’s “Fontaine” (“Fountain”), a porcelain urinal that was slightly chipped, was also attacked with a hammer at the Pompidou Center in Paris in 2006.

EFE

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