In the video of the latest attack of climate warriors on precious exhibits, two were seen glued to Johannes Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" at a Dutch museum with tomato soup.
A video of the incident uploaded on Twitter shows a bald eco-warrior sticking his head to the “Girl with a Pearl Earring". Later, another person was seen pouring a red substance, probably soup, over the head of the first activist. The third man in a white t-shirt from the organisation, ‘Just Stop Oil’ shouted, "how do you feel".
He continued by saying, "How do you feel when you see something beautiful and priceless being destroyed before your eyes," he said. "This painting is protected by glass but the future of our children is not protected."
The visitors were seen shouting, "shame", "obscene" and "you're stupid".
After getting the news of the incident, two police vans reached outside the museum. The three men have been arrested in the case of spoiling a masterpiece that has inspired a bestselling novel and a Hollywood film. The Belgian trio, consisting of a 42-year-old and 45-year-old men, is under police custody and is being questioned by them, reported AFP.
"Art is defenceless and we strongly condemn trying to damage it for whichever cause," the Mauritshuis said in a statement to AFP.
The museum has informed us that the painting was not harmed in the incident and will soon return to display. After a series of similar incidents, Dutch museums have already stepped up the security of museum exhibits.
It is worth noting that the climate activist of the ‘Just Stop Oil’ recently caked the wax statue of King Charles III at Madam Tussaud's museum in London. The organisation claims to oppose the recent deals of oil by the UK government.
King Charles III's wax statue was not the only one that was attacked by these climate activists as the iconic Mona Lisa painting was saved from a similar attack months ago.
The activists also threw soup at Vincent van Gogh's "Sunflowers" at the National Gallery in London on October 14 and smeared mashed potato over a Claude Monet painting in Germany.
(With agency inputs)
