Van Gogh ‘Sunflowers’ Targeted Again After Protestors Jailed

Amidst a special exhibition at London’s National Gallery of Art, a trio of climate activists associated with Just Stop Oil splashed soup on two versions of Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh on the afternoon of Friday, September 27. The protest came just hours after a judge sentenced two other activists for a similar stunt, also involving Sunflowers, in 2022.

Three climate activists associated with the group Just Stop Oil staged a protest at the National Gallery in London on the afternoon of Friday, September 27. They targeted two paintings by Vincent van Gogh that are currently on view as part of an exhibition titled Poets and Lovers. An 1889 version of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, which is on loan for the exhibition, was splashed with Heinz tomato soup, as was the National Gallery’s own 1888 version. Both paintings are covered by protective glass, and the latter was targeted by two Just Stop Oil protestors in 2022. As of Friday, the duo is among 25 activists from the group now serving jail time.

Phil Green, one of the Just Stop Oil protestors involved in Friday’s stunt, told gallery-goers, “Future generations will regard these prisoners of conscience to be on the right side of history.” A fellow protestor, Ludi Simpson, said, “We will be held accountable for our actions today, and we will face the full force of the law. When will the fossil fuel executives and the politicians they’ve bought be held accountable for the criminal damage that they are imposing on every living thing?”

2022 Protest Damaged Frame of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers

Friday’s National Gallery protest occurred shortly after 23-year-old Phoebe Plummer was sentenced to two years in prison. She was charged with causing approximately £10,000 of damage to the frame of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers (1888) in 2022. For the same offense, 22-year-old Anna Holland was sentenced to 20 months in prison. In October 2022, Plummer and Holland entered London’s National Gallery with two tins of soup, which they splashed onto the famous Van Gogh painting. Then, they unveiled their Just Stop Oil t-shirts and glued themselves to the wall. After the stunt, National Gallery staff immediately removed the painting for examination.

In court on Friday, September 27, Judge Christopher Hehir addressed Plummer and Holland directly, saying, “You two simply had no right to do what you did to Sunflowers, and your arrogance in thinking otherwise deserves the strongest condemnation. The pair of you came within the thickness of a pane of glass of irreparably damaging or even destroying this priceless treasure, and that must be reflected in the sentences I pass.”

At the time of the first soup-dousing of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, Phoebe Plummer proclaimed, “What is worth more, art or life? Is it worth more than food? More than justice? Are you more concerned about the protection of a painting or the protection of our planet and people?” Two years later, Plummer gave a 20-minute address to the court before her sentencing.

Plummer said, “I made the choices to take actions that I knew would likely lead to my arrest and prosecution. I made those choices because I believe that non-violent civil resistance is the best, if not the only, tool that people have in order to bring about the rapid change required to protect life from the accelerating climate emergency and the political decisions being made that pour fuel on the flames and which sentence us all to a catastrophic future…. My choice today is to accept whatever sentences I receive with a smile, knowing that I have found peace in doing what I can to defend countless millions of innocent people suffering and dying.”