Two climate activists advocating for a sustainable food system has chucked soup at the glass casing of the famed "Mona Lisa" painting held in Paris's Louvre Museum last Sunday, Jan. 28.
The incident took place amid other protests launched by farmers in France and over two months since the "hammer attack" launched by Just Stop Oil against Diego Velazquez's "Rokeby Venus" held at the National Gallery.
Riposte Alimentaire's Food Attack Against the Da Vinci Painting
A video circulating online shows the two food vandals, one of whom wore a t-shirt with the words "Riposte Alimentaire" or "Food Response," throwing the pumpkin soup at the Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece.
They can be heard shouting: "What's the most important thing? Art, or right to healthy and sustainable food?"
"Our farming system is sick. Our farmers are dying at work," the activists added.
In the same footage, museum staff can be seen erecting a makeshift wall using black panels in front of the soup-doused glass casing of the painting before fully evacuating the room itself.
Later that day, Paris authorities released a public announcement saying two people were arrested after the incident at the Louvre.
On X (formerly Twitter), the group named "Riposte Alimentaire" claimed that it was them who planned and executed the food attack as part of its "campaign" calling for the "the integration of food into the general social security system."
The group has also named both of the assailants as 24-year-old Sasha and 63-year-old Mari-Juliette, saying that they have exercised the demands of their food campaign "through their non-violent action."
France's Minister of Culture Rachida Dati released a statement of her own denouncing the actions committed by the two activists, saying, "The Mona Lisa, like our heritage, belongs to future generations. No cause can justify it being targeted!"
This particular incident happened during a string of protests by French farmers, demanding better work regulations, increased pay, and lowered taxes.
The country's government has since been trying to minimize the discontent of these agriculture workers from worsening ahead of the European Parliament elections that will be held months from now.
