Two protesters from a climate and agricultural NGO hurled soup onto the bulletproof glass protecting Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" painting in Paris, demanding the right to "healthy and sustainable food".
In a video posted on social media, two women with the words “FOOD RIPOSTE” written on their T-shirts can be seen throwing soup at the glass protecting Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece and passing under a security barrier to get closer to the painting.
“What’s the most important thing?” they shouted. “Art, or the right to healthy and sustainable food?”
“Our farming system is sick. Our farmers are dying at work,” they added.
Louvre employees could later be seen putting black panels in front of the Mona Lisa and asking visitors to evacuate the room.
The Riposte Alimentaire (Food Retaliation) group describes itself as a collective dedicated to advocating for action on climate change and sustainable agriculture. On its website, the group said the French government is breaking its climate commitments and called for the equivalent of France’s state-sponsored healthcare system to be put in place to give people better access to food while providing farmers a decent income.
Angry French farmers have been using their tractors for days to set up road blockades and slow traffic across France to seek better remuneration for their produce, less red tape and protection against cheap imports.
The government announced a series of conciliatory measures on Friday but farmers said they do not fully address their demands.
Some have threatened to converge on Paris to block the main roads leading to the capital starting on Monday.
It was the latest attack on the da Vinci masterpiece, which resides in the French capital's Louvre Museum. Someone threw a custard pie at the painting in May 2022 but the glass casing ensured it came to no harm.
The Mona Lisa is not the only famous work of art to be targeted by activists. Johannes Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" was targeted at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague in October 2022 when two climate activists glued themselves to the painting and the adjoining wall while another threw a thick red substance. The artwork, which lies behind glass, was undamaged.
Environmental activists splashed tomato soup on Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh's "Sunflowers" at the National Gallery in London in 2022 while activists from the Last Generation group hurled mashed potato onto Monet's "Les Meules" (Haystacks) at the Barberini Museum in Potsdam.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)