Editorial Staff
29/09/24 20:46

Editorial Staff
29/09/24 20:46

Climate change activists jailed for damaging Van Gogh’s world-famous “Sunflowers” painting

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Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland threw soup over Van Gogh’s “priceless” Sunflowers painting in London’s National Gallery for which they received prison sentences (CTV News)

by Mick the Ram

Two climate activists from the “Just Stop Oil” (JSO) protest organisation, who threw soup at Vincent van Gogh’s world-famous “Sunflowers” painting in London’s National Gallery, have been given lengthy prison sentences.

Phoebe Plummer, who is 23-years-old, and Anna Holland, who is 22, threw tins of Heinz tomato soup on the artwork in October 2022, before glueing themselves to the wall immediately below the painting.

The women were found guilty of causing criminal damage of up to £10,000 ($13,385) to the frame. The painting itself – which has been in the Gallery’s collection for 100 years and is one of the Dutch artist’s most famous and worth millions of poundsescaped harm, as it was behind a protective screen and in actual fact it was able to go back on display later the same day.

The pair pleaded not guilty, but were convicted after a trial at London’s Southwark Crown Court, with Plummer receiving a two years and three months sentence, whilst Holland was given 20 months.

The artwork is part of a series of four extraordinary sunflower still life’s that Van Gogh created in less than a week during the summer of 1888 in Arles in the south of France.

 

Waited patiently

Holland and Plummer staged their protest in the October of 2022 as the latest in a line of stunts arranged by JSO, calling for an end to UK licences for drilling oil.

They calmly entered the gallery posing as art-lovers with a genuine interest in the masterpiece. They patiently waited their turn for a space in front of the “Sunflowers” – known worldwide for the 15 flowers standing in a yellow pot against a yellow background – and once they positioned themselves they removed their jackets to reveal white t-shirts emblazoned with the “Just Stop Oil” slogan.

They proceeded to take out a can of soup each and threw it towards the priceless painting, before gluing their hands to the gallery wall.

 

Carefully planned

Prosecutors presented the case that the stunt had been planned for maximum publicity, and a supporter was on hand to record the incident.

Plummer made an impassioned speech during the act, questioning whether art or life was worth the most and asking if people were more concerned about the protection of a painting, or the protection of the planet.

 

Priceless” masterpiece

The court heard that the soup had done considerable damage to the 17th Century Italian frame’s paintwork, although the women’s defence argued that they both knew that the artwork was covered in a glass screen, and therefore did not believe they would cause any lasting harm.

Prior to sentencing, Judge Christopher Hehir, warned the women to be “prepared, in practical and emotional terms, to go to prison” for an action that came within the width of a pane of glass of irreparably damaging or even destroying a painting, which he said was “probably priceless in a literal sense”.

 

Political prisoner”

During mitigation, Plummer of Clapham in south-west London, tried to justify what she had done by calling herself a “political prisoner” and compared her actions with the campaigns of the suffragettes.

That did little to pacify the judge who told her: “This isn’t helping you – there may be an audience you are playing to, but it really isn’t helping.”

He then added: “Telling an English judge we have political prisoners in this jurisdiction when you think of people suffering in dungeons under tyranny across the world… what you are doing is what many people would regard as an offensive comparison.”

 

Cultural treasure

In his sentencing remarks, Mr Hehir followed up by further slamming Plummer’s comments, labelling them as “ludicrous, self-indulgent, and offensive”.

In conclusion he said that both woman “couldn’t have cared less” if “Sunflowers” had been damaged and described their stance throughout the trial as being arrogant.

He told them in no uncertain terms that they deserved the “strictest condemnation” for what they did, pointing out that Van Gogh’s work “belongs to the entire world and his work is part of humanity’s shared cultural treasures.”

Just hours after the jailing of the women, three more JSO activists repeated the stunt, but on this occasion the painting was unharmed.

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