Together with three colleagues from the Ultima Generación organization yesterday they “stained” one of the author’s most famous paintingsThe work of art has not been damaged because it was covered by glassClaims that this type of action is the last thing they have left after decades without being heard ‘The Sower’ (1888), one of the most famous paintings by Vincent Van Gogh, one of the most important artists of all time, was on Friday morning the victim of a new action of civil disobedience by young activists at favor of the weather. Three young people entered the exhibition that, a few weeks ago, was inaugurated at the Bonaparte Palace in the center of Rome to honor the painter. The painting, loaned by the Kroeller-Mueller museum in the Netherlands, was “attacked” with a vegetable puree, but it has not suffered any damage as it is protected by glass. Later, the activists stuck to the wall and repeated their slogans of protest against the reopening of coal-fired power plants and alarming about the irreversible consequences of climate change, a modus operandi that they replicate from other international environmental organizations that have already carried out similar protests, such as the case of the “attack” on the painting ‘Sunflowers’ , also by Van Gogh, in mid-October in London or at mashed potatoes over a Monet in Germany.The Italian organization ‘Last Generation’, which signs this protest, declares that they maintain a network of international activism with the other groups work because it is “a problem that no country can solve individually”. An other painting by Van Gogh imbrattato dagli environmentalisti di Ultima generazione. T re attiviste hanno gettato una zuppa di verdura his “Il seminatore”, in mostra a Roma. Come almost negli altri, l’opera è protetta da vetro e no subito danni. pic.twitter.com/yjdNmLeEPz— Tg3 (@Tg3web) November 4, 2022 In a few minutes, after what happened this Friday, the doors of the exhibition were closed and after the images of what happened spread like wildfire on social networks , the new Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, went to the central exhibition hall where the entire Van Gogh exhibition is located to express his condemnation. “Culture, which is the basis of our identity, must be defended and protected, it cannot be used as a megaphone for other forms of protest – Sangiuliano stressed – In addition, our cultural heritage must also be protected from the consequences of climate change”. In the following hours, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni again condemned what happened on social networks, assuring that “no ideal is defended in this way, it is simply pure vandalism, which has nothing to do with environmentalism.” Late on Friday, the three participants in this protest were released again after spending several hours detained at the police station and receiving several complaints, which would not have to go very far since only prison sentences are foreseen, from 2 to 5 years. , if the painting suffers real damage. The main reason why these young people move with actions of this type is because they suffer from great anxiety about a future that they see fading away. This is how Ismaela Cavallin, a 24-year-old environmental scientist and one of the three protagonists of this Friday’s protest, explains it to NIUS. “The painting we chose, with the theme of the countryside, was not by chance. The great climate crisis also affects agricultural production and we have to make people understand that the emergency is much more serious than dirty glass from pea soup. Millions of people will die, there will be food shortages and extreme weather events if we don’t do something,” she adds. I carabinieri have identified three ragazze responsible for the blitz at Palazzo Bonaparte in Rome, dove with a zuppa di verdura è stata immbrattata l’opera ‘Il seminatore’ by Van Gogh. Nelle prossime ore le tre giovani potrebbero essere portare in caserma e denunciate #ANSA pic.twitter.com/BEwlM1yuVc— Agenzia ANSA (@Agenzia_Ansa) November 4, 2022 Cavallin acknowledges that these actions are not only the target of great criticism from the Government, but also from society that, even sharing their battles, does not understand this type of protest. “Our goal is not to please anyone, but to create positive social change because we believe that it is our last option after petitions, demonstrations and struggle for decades that have not brought us any results. Now we are facing an extreme emergency situation and we will do whatever is necessary, always from non-violence, to make people understand that if we continue like this we will not have a future, ”she says. The young woman acknowledges that they will not stop this type of action, but that there will always be more, until their main requests are heard: the blocking of the reopening of coal plants and prospecting for the production of Italian gas and, in contrast, , the increase in green energy production, especially wind and solar energy. Conversations with the new far-right government led by Giorgia Meloni, confirms the activist, have been null, in fact she was unaware at the time of the interview of the confirmation by the Executive in the last few hours of retaking the concessions to produce “Italian gas ”.Meloni: “Prezzi calmierati per le aziende più energivore. In an amendment the possibility of liberating some Italian gas strazione facilitating the concession in essere and immaginandone nove”. #ANSA pic.twitter.com/NsTwPXBxmf— Agenzia ANSA (@Agenzia_Ansa) November 4, 2022 Italian climate activists, specifically the Last Generation organization, had already staged other civil disobedience actions such as traffic stops at rush hour , practically almost every morning, in Rome for months. Also other protests linked to art such as sticking to the glass that protects the painting ‘La Primavera’ by Botticelli in the Uffizi Galleries in Florence last July.