The activist organizations Just Stop Oil and Ultima Generazione respectively, have been attaching themselves to famous works of art across cultural institutions in the U.K. and Italy as a way of bringing attention to the climate crisis. Both groups have a simple message: their countries should not be approving any new gas and oil leases. Starting on August 22, German climate activists began replicating the action in German museums.
The actions began when Just Stop Oil activists glued themselves to Horatio McCulloch’s My Heart’s in the Highlands (1860) on June 29 at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow. The Italian activists began their actions on July 22 when they attached themselves to the glass in front of Botticelli’s Primavera (1477) in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
Thus far, none of the artworks the activists have attached themselves to have been damaged as the activists do not glue themselves to the art works but their frames, pedestals, or, in the case of Primavera, protective glass. Members of Ultima Generazione have also cuffed themselves to a cathedral.
The legal costs of doing such actions is being covered by the California-based Climate Emergency Fund, who gave the organizations a total of a $1 million, according to the Observer.
Why have these activists chosen to bring the climate fight to museums? Simon Bramwell, the cofounder of Extinction Rebellion who participated in one of these actions explained why in an interview with ARTnews: “Politics will always follow culture, so it’s absolutely vital that we hold the ideals of our cultural institutions to account. And the hour is late. As a planet, we’re waking up to the fact that a 1.5-degree [Celsius] increase means catastrophe and that figure’s already in the rearview mirror. If we hit 2 degrees, that could mean that 20 percent of the Earth becomes uninhabitable. It’s time to bring the institutions of our culture on board in regards to the truth telling of these times.”
Below is a continuously updated list of these protests in chronological order.
-
Horatio McCulloch's My Heart’s in the Highlands
Image Credit: Glasgow Museums Just Stop Oil activists attached themselves to Horatio McCulloch’s My Heart’s in the Highlands (1860) at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow in June 29th, 2022. One of the protestors explained their reasoning for selecting this painting: “This landscape was painted in 1860 at the height of the highland clearances, when whole crofting [small-scale farming] communities were evicted by a new class of landlords ruthlessly pursuing their own private interests. It was only when crofters organized and resisted that they won rights.”
-
Vincent van Gogh's Peach Trees in Blossom
Image Credit: Just Stop Oil Just Stop Oil activists affixed themselves to Vincent van Gogh’s Peach Trees in Blossom (1889) at the Courtauld Institute in London in June 30th, 2022. “Our initial assessment is that the painting is undamaged. The frame will require treatment to remove glue residue before the work can be returned to display,” a Courtauld representative wrote in an email.
-
J. M. W. Turner's Tomson’s Aeolian Harp
Image Credit: Just Stop Oil In July 1st, 2022, Just Stop Oil activists glued themselves to J. M. W. Turner’s Tomson’s Aeolian Harp (1809) at the Manchester Art Gallery in Manchester. “According to flood risk mapping carried out by Climate Central, the areas of London that are depicted in Turner’s painting could be regularly underwater as early as 2030,” Just Stop Oil said in a statement.
-
John Constable’s The Hay Wain
Image Credit: Just Stop Oil The Hay Wain (1821), an iconic landscape by John Constable at the National Gallery in London, was covered by Just Stop Oil activists on July 4th, 2022 with a reimagined scene of a countryside full of dying trees, planes, and an encroaching city. A National Gallery spokesperson said at the time that the painting had sustained minor damage that was quickly resolved.
-
Giampietrino's The Last Supper
Image Credit: Just Stop Oil Just Stop Oil activists glued themselves to Giampietrino’s The Last Supper (ca. 1520) at the Royal Academy in London in July 5th, 2022. One of the activists associated with Just Stop Oil said in a statement, “When I was teaching I brought my students to great institutions like the Royal Academy. But now it feels unfair to expect them to respect our culture when their government is hellbent on destroying their future by licensing new oil and gas projects.”
-
Sandro Botticelli's Primavera
Image Credit: Courtesy Ultima Generazione Protests in Italy kicked off in July 22nd, 2022 when Ultima Generazione activists glued themselves to Sandro Botticelli’s Primavera (1477) at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. On Instagram, Ultima Generazione wrote that they had targeted the painting because of its subject matter. The work represents “with a finesse of detail that borders on the encyclopedic – more than 500 botanical species that bloom precisely in the months of spring… This is a reality that we are in danger of losing.”
-
Umberto Boccioni's Unique Forms of Continuity in Space
Image Credit: Ultima Generazione Italian protests continued when, in July 30th, 2022, Ultima Generazione activists attached themselves to Umberto Boccioni’s Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (1913) at the Museo del Novecento in Milan. “We do not let ourselves be arrested lightly but we must immediately understand that there will be no art in a collapsing planet,” an activist referred to only by her first name, Simone, said in a statement from the group. “If we really want to preserve it, we must act now and abandon investments in fossils. There will be no art of any kind if we cannot afford to eat, if we die from heat waves. This is why we ask cultural institutions to take sides with us and to put pressure on the government.”
-
Laocoön and His Sons
Image Credit: Ultima Generazione In August 4th, 2022, Ultima Generazione activists attached themselves to Laocoön and His Sons (40–30 B.C.E.) at the Vatican Museum. The statue was chosen by the activists because Laocoön represents a relatable figure: Laocoön was a Trojan priest who begged his fellow citizens to burn the Trojan horse that the Greeks had sent as a gift. They ignored his warning and the city was sacked by the soldiers hiding in the wooden horse. “The alarm signal went unheard, the ambassador of danger and his children died crushed in the silence of unconsciousness and the entire city of Troy was set on fire, causing the death of many naive but innocent people,” an activist said in a release.
-
Scrovegni Chapel
Image Credit: WikiCommons In August 21st, 2022, Ultima Generazione activists attached themselves to the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy by cuffing themselves to the railing. The activists chose the Scrovegni Chapel as a site of protest because of the mural painted there by Giotto. The mural depicts the potential end of the world, with one path representing a future in which humanity saves itself using principles such as justice and another path representing humanity’s demise due to greed.
-
Sistine Madonna by Raphael
Image Credit: Letze Generation On August 22rd German activists joined the movement. Two Letzte Generation (Last Generation) protestors–it seems there is no direct connection to Ultima Generazione–jumped over a barrier in front of the ‘Sistine Madonna’ by Raphael in the Old Masters Picture Gallery in Dresden and proceeded to glue themselves to it, according to a press release from Letzte Generation.
Maike Grunst, 21, explained during the protest, as reported in the press release, why they chose to target this painting, “The internationally known Sistine Madonna is a powerful symbol: Mary and Jesus look to the future with fear. They look forward to Christ’s death on the cross. An equally predictable death will also be the result of climate collapse. And all over the world!”
-
Massacre in Korea by Pablo Picasso
Image Credit: Courtesy Extinction Rebellion On October 9, activists with the group Extinction Rebellion glued themselves to Picasso’s Massacre en Corée (Massacre in Korea), a 1951 painting commonly thought to be a response to the United States’s intervention in Korea around the time of the Korean War. The painting is held by the National Gallery of Victoria, where activists laid out a sign that read “Climate Chaos = War + Famine.” The activists said they had chosen because it dealt with conflict and violence. Several were arrested during the protest, which they designed to leave the artwork itself undamaged.
-
Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh
Image Credit: Courtesy National Gallery On October 14, activists with Just Stop Oil went one step further than much of their past protests, splashing a substance that appeared to be tomato soup on Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers at the National Gallery in London. The protest, which took place during Frieze London, also involved two activists gluing themselves to the floor beneath the painting. Several arrests were made in relation to the protest. While the National Gallery said the painting was unharmed and that its frame only sustained “minor damage,” a mass outcry followed on social media.