London. Three Just Stop Oil activists threw soup at two of Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” paintings at the National Gallery in London on Friday, just hours after two other members of the protest group were convicted of doing the same in 2022.
The activists threw tomato soup at a painting owned by the Gallery of London and another in the sunflower series that is on loan from the Philadelphia Museum of Art for a temporary exhibition.
The National Gallery said three people were arrested and the paintings were unharmed.
The act came just hours after Phoebe Plummer, 23, and Anna Holland, 22, were sentenced for throwing cans of tomato soup on the London-based artwork in October 2022, before hitting each other. to the wall under the painting.
Prosecutors said the soup caused up to 10,000 pounds ($13,385) worth of damage to the frame in 2022, although the painting, which was behind a protective screen, was unharmed and returned to display later that day.
Plummer and Holland pleaded not guilty but were convicted following a trial at Southwark Crown Court, London, where Plummer was sentenced to two years in prison on a charge of criminal damage. Holland received 20 months in prison.
Judge Christopher Hehir said Plummer and Holland “came close to irreparably damaging or even destroying” the painting, which he said was “probably priceless in a literal sense.”
Plummer said she participated in the protests knowing she could be arrested and jailed and claimed she was being turned into a political prisoner.
The judge said this was ridiculous and self-indulgent.
“It is offensive to many people in other parts of the world who suffer persecution, imprisonment and sometimes death for their beliefs,” he said.
Plummer was also sentenced Friday to an additional three months in prison, having been convicted separately of the relatively new crime of interfering with the use of key national infrastructure.
Friday’s sentencing comes amid a broader crackdown on protest movements in Britain and across Europe.
Just Stop Oil activists have organized a series of eye-catching protests in recent years, including disruptions to sporting events, theater performances and road traffic.
Five members of the group, including co-founder Roger Hallam, were sentenced to prison terms of at least four years for a conspiracy to block London’s M25 motorway, marking the longest sentences ever imposed for a non-violent protest in Britain. .
#Van #Goghs #Sunflowers #painting #attacked #soup #London
– 2024-09-27 23:52:34
