The National Museums Council (NMDC) denounces action against museums in the United Kingdom after two new acts of vandalism at the National Gallery. The Council calls, in an open letter, for an end to political actions against works of art. The director of the NMDC expressed his concern about the danger posed by acts of vandalism to the works, recalling the damage suffered by certain paintings. The press release also underlines the collateral effects of these acts which can “seriously damage the reputation of British museums”worry the public and disrupt staff.
The Council’s response follows two new attacks on the National Gallery in recent weeks. On September 27, two paintings from the series Sunflowers (1888 and 1889) by Vincent Van Gogh were doused with tomato juice by eco-activists from Just Stop Oil in reaction to the conviction of two young women who had doused the first of the Sunflowers (1888) in October 2022. On October 9, 2024, Maternity (1901), a painting by Pablo Picasso exhibited in room 43 of the museum, was the target of two pro-Palestinian activists. The activists covered it with a photograph (taken by Palestinian journalist Ali Jadallah) depicting a Gazan mother and a child with a bloody face after a recent Israeli bombing. Activists also poured red paint on the gallery floor shortly before holding up the photograph.
The claim of the action aimed at Maternity comes from the Youth Demand group which has called on the British government to end arms sales and oil and gas licenses granted to Israel. One of the two activists, Jai Halai (23), an employee of the National Health Service (NHS), said he was taking action “with Youth Demand because I have seen my colleagues in the health sector decimated for over a year”reports Museums Association. The other activist involved, Malachi Rosenfeld (21), a Jewish student, explained “take this initiative because as a Jew, I believe it is my duty to denounce the genocide committed in Gaza. » The paint was not damaged, reports The Standard.
The National Museums Council recalls that the National Gallery has been the target of five acts of vandalism since 2022. Sunflowers (1888) by Vincent van Gogh were doused with tomato soup in October 2022, which led to the sentencing of the two young women from Just Stop Oil (Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland) to several months in prison (the protected painting by ice was not damaged). The Hay Cart by John Constable (1821) was targeted by two activists who glued themselves to the frame of the painting in July 2022 (only slight damage to the frame and the varnish of the painting was noted). Venus at her mirror (1647-1651), known as “the Venus of Rokeby” by Vélasquez, was attacked by Just Stop Oil in November 2023. Through these actions, eco-activists are demanding a change in policy from galleries and museums concerning the financing contracts signed with the oil giants.
Since the war in Gaza and the intensification of the conflict, British institutions have begun to be victims of the actions of pro-Palestinian activists. A painting by Philip Alexium Laszlo, kept at the University of Cambridge, was slashed with a box cutter and sprayed with red paint by Palestine Action in March 2024, reports the BBC. The painting depicts Arthur Balfour, the signatory of a 1917 declaration in favor of the establishment of a Jewish colony in Israel.
Museums in the United Kingdom are not the only ones to deplore an escalation in acts of vandalism in recent years. The Mona Lisa at the Louvre Museum, The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Vermeer (1665) at the Mauritshuis Museum in The Hague (Netherlands), and The Millstones by Claude Monet (1890) at the Barberini Museum in Potsdam (Germany), were all three vandalized in 2022. The art world had already launched a general rant the same year, describing these acts as “counterproductive” and of “desperate” .
