Just Stop Oil activists have thrown tins of soup over Vincent Van Gogh's famous Sunflowers painting at the National Gallery.
A video has emerged on Twitter of the incident at the London gallery this morning.
Two young women wearing white t-shirts with the campaign's logo in black letters can be seen in the clip kneeling down in front of the already defaced painting holding tins of Heinz Tomato Soup.
The group has been holding protests for the last fortnight in the British capital.
The Van Gogh work is fortunately protected by a sheet of glass and is unlikely to have been damaged.
Several visitors to the gallery had gathered at the scene, many recording on their phones.
The protest was done to symbolise the fact that many families in the UK can't afford to heat a tin of soup due to the rise in the cost of living.
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One of the protestors shouted: "What is worth more, art or life?
"Is it worth more than food? More than justice?
"Are you more concerned about the protection of a painting, or the protection of our planet and people?"
She went on to say: "The cost of living crisis is part of the cost of oil prices.
"Fuel is unaffordable to millions of cold, hungry families. They can't even afford to heat a tin of soup."
She started to add "meanwhile, crops are failing..." before a gallery security guard arrived and moved onlookers away and the clip comes to an end.
The demonstration has been met with a mixed response.
One person wrote on social media: "This doesn't help anything, just criminal damage."
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