Two activists from the ‘Just Stop Oil’ platform have burst into the National Gallery in London and they have The emblematic painting of ‘Venus in the Mirror’ by Velázquez was attacked with hammer blows. As denounced by the environmental entity in a statement published on social networks, the objective of the protest is to denounce the expansion of oil licenses signed by the United Kingdom. The ‘attack’ on the museum responds to the same strategy used last year by environmental activists to draw attention to the lack of actions to stop the climate crisis.
Just a year ago, on the eve of the start of the Sharm el-Sheikh climate summit, activists from around the world broke into museums to protest against climate inaction both in the political world and, in general, in society. Among the most famous episodes of these protests, for example, the throwing of a can of tomato soup at Van Gogh’s ‘The Sunflowers’ stands out. The tart to the ‘Mona Lisa’ by Da Vinci exhibited in the Louvre. Or the moment when two Spanish activists They stuck to the frames of Goya’s ‘Las majas’ exhibited in the Prado Museum. Now, with just a few days left until the start of the Dubai summit, it seems that the museum protests have returned.
💥 SUFFRAGETTE PAINTING SMASHED
💀 Our government has revealed plans for MORE oil licenses, knowing it will kill millions. In response, two supporters of Just Stop Oil smashed the Rokeby Venus—slashed by Mary Richardson in 1914.
⏱ Deeds, not words: https://t.co/3tlBID7nKA pic.twitter.com/Hk0el26QIt
— Just Stop Oil (@JustStop_Oil) November 6, 2023
On this occasion, the protest has been led by two young activists from the British platform ‘Just Stop Oil’: hanan22 years old, and Harrison, 20. “When I was a child I dreamed of being an astronaut or a singer. I imagined a future, no matter how ridiculous it was. Now all those dreams have ended. The climate crisis no longer leaves room to imagine a future,” activists have claimed just before hitting the Velázquez painting before the astonished gaze of the museum visitors. The environmental group also took part this Monday in a march through central London in which, among others, Activists have glued themselves to the famous Whitehall Cenotaph.
The ‘attacked’ painting
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It is not the first time that ‘Venus in the mirror’ is the subject of a protest. On March 10, 1914, this same painting was also ‘attacked’ by the journalist and suffragist Mary Raleigh Richardson. On that occasion, the canvas received seven clean stab wounds to protest against structural discriminations that women suffered then. The protest managed to go around the world and, in the midst of so much commotion, it managed to put on the table the extent to which feminist activists were willing to risk so that their demands could be heard. The painting could finally be repaired without problems and was returned to display in the National Gallery.
The debate about the effectiveness of these protests threw up all kinds of opinions, from who called these types of actions “too drastic” to those who claimed that, in some way, they were justified in draw attention to the seriousness of the climate crisis. The activists who carried out these actions, for their part, sent the following message: “What is worth more, art or life? What worries us more, the protection of a painting or the protection of our planet and people?” From there the discussion was on.