5 min readNew DelhiJun 12, 2024 04:03 PM IST
First published on: Jun 12, 2024 at 03:56 PM IST
No matter how magnificent, protected and deep some artworks may be, they are sometimes used as a blank canvas to deliver an even bigger message to the world. Art is subjective and so is its use. While catharsis is one, vandalism and activism are another. Recently, the official portrait of King Charles III was vandalised by an animal rights activist group Animal Rising. A cartoon face and a speech bubble reading, “No cheese, Gromit. Look at all this cruelty on RSPCA farms!” were pasted on the face of the monarch. The performance was to draw attention towards widespread violations of animal husbandry rules at farms approved by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Much like this, there have been numerous instances where art pieces, artefacts and statues have been vandalised. The messages may differ but the intent of dissent remains common. But herein lies the question: Does activism, both political and environmental, have to come at the cost of renowned, historical art?
Below is a list of such recent acts of resistance where art was the bait for dialogue.
One for Palestine
Statutes and other structures were vandalised around the White House on June 9, 2024, to support the Palestinian cause. Protestors who had assembled near the White House, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, also showcased their graffiti skills on the Rochambeau statue in Washington DC’s Lafayette Square. ‘Free Gaza’, ‘Ceasefire now’ and ‘Shame on you Joe’ were some messages under the sculpture of Comte de Rochambeau, a French army commander. Another sculpture of Andrew Jackson on a horse was covered in red handprints with purple text that read ‘Boycott Israel products’.
Protestors surround the White House grounds with a red banner symbolising President Biden’s ‘red line’ about Israel going into Gaza’s Rafah, during a pro-Palestinian protest, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Washington.
(Reuters photo)
Mona Lisa has seen it all
Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic painting ‘Mona Lisa’ has faced several vandalism attempts over the years, the most recent one being in January 2024 when protestors from Riposte Alimentaire threw pumpkin soup at it in the wake of the farmer protests going around France and other parts of Europe. “What is more important? Art or the right to have a healthy and sustainable food system?” the activists asked, speaking in French. “Our agricultural system is sick.” Earlier in 2022, a man in a woman’s disguise smeared cake on the bullet-proofed painting and raised a slogan: “All artists, think about the Earth. That’s why I did this. Think of the planet.”
The Magna Carta in a glass box
Sue Parfitt and Judy Bruce, in their eighties, were seen attacking a glass case containing an original copy of the Magna Carta at the British Library in May 2024. The document is considered one the most important documents in the history of Western democracy. The duo said, “There will be no freedom, no lawfulness, no rights, if we allow climate breakdown to become the catastrophe that is now threatened.”
When ‘Sunflowers’ didn’t bloom
“What is worth more, art or life?” shouted an activist who splashed tomato soup on Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ at London’s National Gallery in October 2022. “Are you more concerned about the protection of a painting or the protection of our planet and people?”
The group Just Stop Oil wanted to highlight the oil crisis and subsequent hunger outbreaks while Liz Truss, the then UK Prime Minister, was licensing 100 new fossil fuel licences. This sparked off a series of similar eco-activism attempts in 2022.
Glued to a painting
A few months after the ‘Sunflowers’, Johannes Vermeer’s ‘Girl With a Pearl Earring’ also faced a similar attack. A Just Stop Oil member glued his shaved head to the painting and another poured a can of tomato soup on the man. While visitors yelled, “Shame on you’’, the activist replied, “Where is that feeling when you see the planet being destroyed?”
A mashed potato attack
In the series of attacks on paintings in 2022 is the mashed potato attack by Letzte Generation (Last Generation), a German activist group. Potatoes were the choice of vegetable this time as Claude Monet’s ‘Haystacks’ was smeared with them at the Museum Barberini in Germany. “We are in a climate catastrophe and all you are afraid of is tomato soup or mashed potatoes on a painting,” the group later tweeted.
An image of the vandalised portrait of King Charles III.
(Photo: Website/Animal Rising) 
Protestors surround the White House grounds with a red banner symbolising President Biden’s ‘red line’ about Israel going into Gaza’s Rafah, during a pro-Palestinian protest, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Washington.
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