The Swedish justice system was benevolent. In June 2023, at the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, two activists stuck their hands on the glass protecting The Artist’s Garden in Giverny by Claude Monet, on loan from the Musée d’Orsay, after having projected red paint. Two other activists then shouted: “The situation is critical” And “our health is threatened”. The collective Återställ Våtmarker (“Restore the Wetlands”) took responsibility for the action, saying that “the gardens painted by Monet will soon be nothing more than a distant memory. »
Monday, December 8, the court acquitted the six environmentalists. The judges considered that the intention was not to destroy the painting, as the work was not damaged, but to carry out a gesture of climate protest. However, the prosecutor had requested a suspended prison sentence and fines for five of the activists and a prison sentence for one of them. The prosecutor also demanded 181,000 crowns (16,500 euros) in damages.
Per Hellström, head of exhibitions at the National Museum, does not understand this decision. According to him, if there are no legal consequences then that would mean that these kinds of actions are acceptable. The National Museum says the restoration cost more than 21,000 crowns (2,000 euros). The costs incurred for its employees would amount to 160,000 crowns (14,500 euros).
This moderate reading by the Swedish justice system contrasts with other decisions rendered elsewhere in Europe, and in particular in the United Kingdom. At the National Gallery in London in 2022, two Just Stop Oil activists threw soup on Sunflowers by Van Gogh. In 2024, they were both sentenced to prison. In France, for an equivalent gesture, the sanction is more moderate: in February 2024, two activists from Riposte Alimentaire had sprayed paint Monet’s Spring at the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon. The canvas, protected by glass, remained intact. After an acquittal at first instance, the court of appeal finally sentenced the two activists to a symbolic fine of 300 euros each for the slight damage to the frame. However, French law allows for heavy penalties for the damage to cultural property, but the courts are increasingly using the criterion of actual damage.
