It’s hard to believe that it was only three months ago that I stood in front of Vincent Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers.” While in the National Gallery in London, I craned my neck to view arguably the most famous painting in the collection.
On Oct. 14, visitors saw something much different.
The painting hung on the wall in peace until it was doused with a layer of Heinz tomato soup. In what I’m sure was a haze of events, two women threw the soup cans they’d just emptied onto the ground and glued themselves to the wall.
“What is worth more,” Just Stop Oil Protestor Phoebe Plummer asked, “art or life?”
By this point, onlookers were shouting for security in the background, but it didn’t stop Plummer’s address.
“Is it worth more than food? Worth more than justice? Are you more concerned about the protection of a painting or the protection of our planet and people?”
The first question that I asked myself was, Why soup? Of all things to throw, why tomato soup? I thought it might have been all they could get through the bag checkpoint.
Plummer explained, saying, “Fuel is unaffordable to millions of cold, hungry families. They can’t even afford to heat a tin of soup,” hence the cans of cream of tomato.
Plummer went on to say, “Millions of people are dying in monsoons and wildfires and severe drought. We cannot afford new oil and gas— it is going to take everything we know and love.”
This is not the first protest of this kind, nor was it the last.
In France, on May 29 of this year, a man smeared cream cake all over the “Mona Lisa,” which now sits behind bulletproof glass. Since the protest at The National Gallery, similar stunts have broken out. Another Just Stop Oil protestor threw a cake at the wax figure of King Charles. Museums have been sites of protests in London, Germany, and France just in the past month.
I and many others worldwide have quite a few issues with this stunt.
First of which, for me, is the lack of clarity on what exactly the two women were protesting. Cost of energy? Poverty in the U.K.? The environmental impacts of the oil industry? All of these are valid issues to protest, but I find it difficult to understand their call for affordable fuel within the realm of their villainization of the fuel industry. Especially as the cost of eco-efficient energy is incredibly high and unattainable for impoverished families.
I actually agree with their concern for the environment and the fact that the oil and fossil fuel industry plays a prominent role in that. I also agree that no family should be unable to take care of themselves in even the most basic ways. In another context, I might have stood in solidarity with these women in their cries for change. My issue is the way they went about the protest.
What did throwing tomato soup and one of the greatest paintings of all time do?
I would argue that the manner of their stunt actually overtook the impact of the issue they were protesting. Especially as the destruction of a painting doesn’t seem to tie into the subject matter of their protest. Most people I have heard talk about the event know what they did but not why. There is a difference between a protest that causes a disruption productive to the cause in question and simply doing something for shock value. I would say this made their argument weaker and outraged people who would typically side with them— like myself.
Tweets have come from all over the world criticizing the way these protestors went about taking action. According to NBC News, one person tweeted, “Congrats on setting back the cause,” and another, “You can care about the planet without destroying other things of value.”
What I’ve realized is that the vast majority of people are not angry in the way the protestors desired. The National Gallery has a team of people ready to repair artwork in cases like this (although tomato soup may have been a first). The painting is back in perfect condition and hanging again in the gallery where it previously stood. People aren’t infuriated at this protest but mainly laugh at the fact that these women thought it would do something productive. People are annoyed. Maybe even a little confused. But no one was livid, and they were far from pushed toward change.
This protest fell flat. It made about as much of a lasting impact for their cause as the soup did on the canvas.
