Two activists from a climate and agricultural NGO calling for the right to healthy and sustainable food, have thrown soup at the glass-protected Mona Lisa at the Louvre in central Paris, France.
The 16th-century painting by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, which is one of the world's most famous artworks, was not damaged, the museum said.
According to France 24, the protesters had shouted slogans advocating for a sustainable food system amid farmers’ protests demanding the government address low wages and other problems.
Two women with the words ‘Riposte Alimentaire’ (food response) written on their T-shirts can be seen in a video posted on social media, throwing soup at the glass protecting one of the world’s most famous paintings and passing under a security barrier to get closer to the painting.
“What’s the most important thing?” they shouted. “Art, or right to a healthy and sustainable food?”
“Our farming system is sick. Our farmers are dying at work,” they added.
The Louvre employees could then be seen putting black panels in front of the Mona Lisa and asking visitors to evacuate the room.
On its website, the “Food Riposte” group said the French government is breaking its climate commitments and called for the equivalent of France’s state-sponsored healthcare system to be put in place to give people better access to healthy food while providing farmers with a decent income.
They said the soup throwing marked the “start of a campaign of civil resistance with the clear demand of the social security of sustainable food," according to a statement sent to the AFP news agency.
Angry French farmers have been using their tractors for days to set up road blockades and slow traffic across France to seek better remuneration for their produce, less red tape and protection against cheap imports.
On Friday, the government announced a series of measures they said do not fully address their demands. Some farmers threatened to converge on Paris, starting Monday, to block the main roads leading to the capital.
The Mona Lisa is not the only famous work of art to be targeted by activists. Johannes Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" was targeted at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague in October 2022 when two climate activists glued themselves to the painting and the adjoining wall while another threw a thick red substance. The artwork, which lies behind glass, was undamaged.
Environmental activists splashed tomato soup on Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh's "Sunflowers" at the National Gallery in London in 2022 while activists from the Last Generation group hurled mashed potato onto Monet's "Les Meules" (Haystacks) at the Barberini Museum in Potsdam.