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Climate activists battled weekend crowds at the Louvre Museum in Paris on Sunday to splatter the iconic “Mona Lisa” with canned soup.
Video shows two women throwing a red liquid on the painting before crossing the wooden barrier that protects it from the crowds.
One of the women takes off her jacket to reveal a T-shirt that says “Riposte Alimentaire,” a food sustainability activist group in France whose name means “food response.”
“What is more important?” The second woman tells the crowd that she screams. “Art or healthy and sustainable food?”
Museum workers can be seen running to block the view of the activists and the painting.
In an emailed statement, the Louvre told NBC News that no damage was done to the painting, which has been protected under armored glass since 2005.
The “Salle des Etats” (Hall of States) where the painting is on display was “calmly evacuated,” he said, and closed for 90 minutes while the exhibit was cleaned.
The museum will file a complaint, the statement added, although it is unclear whether it will be to law enforcement officials or to the activist group.
Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” depicts an Italian noblewoman with a mysterious smile. It is one of the most famous works of art in the world and attracts up to 10 million visitors to the Louvre a year.
On its website, Riposte Alimentaire said the French government is failing to meet its climate commitments and called for the equivalent of France’s state-sponsored healthcare system to be implemented to give people better access to healthy food while provide farmers with a decent income.
Angry French farmers have been using their tractors for days to block roads and slow down traffic across France in search of better remuneration for their produce, less bureaucracy and protection from cheap imports.
Some farmers have threatened to converge on Paris from Monday to block main roads leading to the capital, in the first possible major internal crisis for new Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.
International galleries have increasingly become a stage for climate protesters, who have attacked famous paintings that use food and paint to draw attention to the climate crisis.
The “Mona Lisa” was previously attacked in 2022 by an activist who smeared pastel on the painting and shouted: “Artists tell you: think of the Earth. That’s why I did this.”
In 2022, activists from “Just Stop Oil,” a group trying to pressure the UK government not to renew new oil and gas licenses, poured soup on Vincent Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” in the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. in London.
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