Activists Glue Themselves To A Van Gogh Painting In Climate Change Protest

Topline

Two activists glued themselves to the frame of a Vincent van Gogh painting at the Courtauld Gallery in London Thursday, protesting the art world’s seeming complicity with climate change.

Key Facts

Louis McKechnie, 21, and Emily Brocklebank, 24, glued themselves to “Peach Trees in Blossom,” a painting of the French countryside Van Gogh completed in 1889, just weeks after he slashed his own ear off during a period of mental instability.

It’s unclear if the stunt damaged the painting.

The two belong to Just Stop Oil, a group pressuring the U.K. government to stop fossil fuel licensing and calling on cultural institutions to “join them in civil resistance,” according to a statement.

McKechnie, who claims to be a fan of “Peach Trees in Blossom” since childhood, called it “immoral” for art institutions to stand by while the government allows for more fossil fuel production, saying galleries should close and directors should speak out.

Footage posted online by the group shows four police officers apparently responding to the incident, but the Courtauld Gallery did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Forbes.

Tangent

Just Stop Oil noted in a statement that Provence, the region of France depicted by Van Gogh in “Peach Trees in Blossom” is in danger of experiencing a severe drought this summer after low rainfall this year.

Key Background

On Wednesday, five members of Just Stop Oil were arrested at Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow, Scotland, after spray-painting the walls and the floors of the gallery and gluing themselves to another painting. Last month, a man who threw cake on Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” at the Louvre Museum in Paris claimed he did it in the name of climate change as security escorted him out. “Think of the planet! . . . There are people who are destroying the planet—think about that! . . . That’s why I did it!” he shouted in French. In 2019, climate change protesters who are members of the British Extinction Rebellion group glued themselves to trains, bridges and even a fence outside the home of then Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Further Reading

‘Mona Lisa’ Attacked With Cake By Climate Change Protester (Forbes)