Local weather activists smear crimson paint on a Monet portray Wednesday at Stockholm Nationwide Museum earlier than gluing their arms to the paintings’s protecting glass. Picture courtesy of Aterstall Vatmarker
June 15 (UPI) — Two local weather activists smeared crimson paint on a Monet portray Wednesday at Stockholm Nationwide Museum earlier than gluing their arms to the paintings’s protecting glass and shouting at onlookers.
A video launched by the group Aterstall Vatmarker, which implies Restore Wetlands, confirmed a nurse and nursing scholar smearing paint on The Artist’s Backyard in Giverny, by French impressionist Claude Monet.
The activists shouted “the local weather scenario is acute” and “our well being is threatened.”
“The scenario is pressing. As a nurse, I refuse to look at,” one of many girls, named Emma, mentioned. “The pandemic was nothing in comparison with the local weather collapse. It is about life or loss of life.”
“Individuals will not simply die from warmth stroke. New ailments will unfold, and we can’t even think about the extent of this,” she added.
Police arrested the ladies for “aggravated vandalism.”
“It’s unclear whether or not extra folks than the 2 arrested are concerned within the incident, however a variety of folks have been checked and the police will, amongst different issues, assessment the course of occasions with the assistance of the museum’s surveillance cameras,” the Stockholm Area police mentioned in an announcement.
Helen Wahlgren, a spokesperson for Restore Wetlands, mentioned the activists had been making an attempt to stress the Swedish authorities to chop greenhouse gasoline emissions.
“We should always decrease our emissions by 31%. However our emissions are nonetheless rising,” she mentioned, including that the “beautiful gardens like these in Monet’s portray will quickly be a distant reminiscence.”
The portray, which was accomplished in 1900 and was encased in glass, is presently being examined to find out if there was any injury, based on the museum.
This isn’t the primary time a portray has been attacked by local weather activists. In October, two activists threw tomato soup on a Vincent Van Gogh portray in London. They pleaded not responsible to felony expenses for damaging the paintings’s body.
“We distance ourselves from actions the place artwork or cultural heritage are put vulnerable to injury,” Per Hedström, the Nationwide Museum’s appearing director common, mentioned Wednesday.
“Cultural heritage has nice symbolic worth, and it’s unacceptable to assault or destroy it, for any function in any way.”
