Climate protesters throw mashed potatoes at Monet Les Meules painting in Germany
by Climate protesters threw mashed potatoes at a Monet painting worth $110m in Germany in a protest against fossil fuel extraction.
Two activists from the group Last Generation approached Monet’s Les Meules at the Barberini Museum in Potsdam and threw the potato over the painting and its gold frame.
Footage from the stunt shows the activists, wearing orange high-vis vests, throwing the mixture before gluing themselves to the wall below the painting.
One activist then shouts as confused gallery visitors walk behind the painting: “Does it take mashed potato on a painting to make you listen?
“This painting is not going to be worth anything if we have to fight over food.
“When will you finally start to listen?”
Four people were involved in the stunt, according to German news agency dpa.
The painting, part of Monet’s celebrated Haystacks series, was sold at auction three years ago for $110m.
The Barberini Museum said that because it was enclosed in glass, the activists did not cause any damage.
It is expected to be back on display on Wednesday.
The museum director said he was “shocked” by the stunt.
Ortrud Westheider said: “While I understand the activists’ urgent concern in the face of the climate catastrophe, I am shocked by the means with which they are trying to lend weight to their demands.”
Police told dpa they had responded to the incident, but gave no further information about arrests or charges.
It is the latest artwork in a gallery to be targeted by climate activists.
Two protesters threw tomato soup over Van Gogh’s Sunflowers at the National Gallery in London last week.
Just Stop Oil activists also glued themselves to the frame of an early copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, and to John Constable’s The Hay Wain in the National Gallery.