According to the gallery, the incident caused minimal damage to the frame but left the painting undamaged. It was later put back on display.
London: Two women were charged with criminal damage when climate change demonstrators splashed soup over Vincent van Gogh’s painting “Sunflowers” at London’s National Gallery on Saturday, according to British police.
A video shared by the Just Stop Oil campaign organization, which has been organizing rallies in the British capital for the previous two weeks, showed two of its activists on Friday tossing tins of Heinz tomato soup over the painting, one of five replicas on display in museums and galleries worldwide.
According to the gallery, the incident caused minimal damage to the frame but left the painting undamaged. It was later put back on display.
Two ladies, aged 21 and 20, were charged with “criminal damage to the frame of van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting” and will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court later.
Another activist will appear in court on charges of causing damage to the sign outside the New Scotland Yard police headquarters in central London.
According to police, 28 people were arrested during Friday’s protests.
