A painting of Monet sprayed with mashed potatoes by activists in Potsdam – Le Monde

Letzte Generation activists in front of “Les Meules” at the Barberini Museum in Potsdam on October 24, 2022. AP After Van Gogh, Claude Monet. Two environmental activists from the German movement Letzte Generation (“Last Generation”, in German) threw mashed potatoes on Les Meules, by Claude Monet, on Sunday, October 23, at the Barberini Museum, in Potsdam, near Berlin. “If it takes a board – on which we have thrown mashed potatoes or tomato soup – to make society remember that the race for fossil fuels is killing us all: then we will give you mashed potatoes on a painting ! “, claimed the environmental activists, by broadcasting a video of the act. Letzte Generation advocates civil disobedience to force the German and Austrian federal governments to take action against global warming. We make this #Monet the stage and the audience the audience. If it takes a painting – with #MashedPotatoes or… https://t.co/Qq0lSl4bpK— AufstandLastGen (@Letzte Generation) Les Meules, by Monet, is part of the collection of billionaire Hasso Plattner. The painting, bought at auction in 2019 for $111 million – a record for a Monet – is on permanent loan to the museum. Dressed in black with orange vests, the two activists threw the mashed potatoes on the board, before striking the same pose as those who had done the same with tomato soup on October 14 on Les Tournesols, by Van Gogh, at the National Gallery in London: kneeling, back to the work, one hand glued to the wall. “Do you have to throw mashed potatoes at a board to make you listen? This painting will no longer be worth anything if we have to fight to find something to eat,” said one of the two activists. The two young people were arrested by the police. The painting was protected by glass, the museum said, adding that, according to experts, it suffered no damage. Les Meules will be visible again from Wednesday. Series of actions As part of their series of actions begun at the beginning of October against the exploitation of hydrocarbons, two environmental activists from the Just Stop Oil movement threw tomato soup on the chief – of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers at the National Gallery in London, which had suffered no damage apart from some “minor damage” to the frame. They appeared on September 15 in a London court, accused of damage for an amount of less than 5,000 pounds. The judge released them on the condition that they do not enter any museum or gallery, and no longer use paint or adhesive substances in public spaces. Their trial is set for December 13. Two days later, Just Stop Oil activists attacked a dealership of luxury car brand Aston Martin in central London. The next day, October 17, two more Just Stop Oil activists scaled the Queen Elizabeth II motorway bridge over the River Thames near London, causing major traffic jams. On Friday, a dozen activists from the Extinction Rébellion (XR) movement took action at the Paris Motor Show, some briefly sticking to sports cars, to denounce the “individual car model” still promoted by the industry, they explained in a press release. The World with AFP