Climate activist arrested for slapping apocalyptic sticker over Monet painting in Paris
This will leave a bad impression.
An environmental protester was arrested for slapping a sticker over famed painter Claude Monet’s “Poppy Fields” at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.
The woman covered most of the piece with a sticky, blood-red sign depicting the same exact scene post-apocalypse.
The activist was with the group Riposte Alimentaire, French for “Food Response,” which has been targeting artworks in an attempt to draw attention to the threat of climate change on food supplies.
The group said the sticker is supposed to show a “nightmare version” of the field in 2100, “ravaged by flames and drought,” if action isn’t taken against climate change.
The demonstrator stripped off her jacket after defacing the Impressionist painting, which was created in 1873. She exposed a white T-shirt with a slogan related to a 4-degree global temperature increase written across it.
“This nightmarish image awaits us if no alternative is put in place,” she said in the video, according to France 24.
She was detained pending an investigation of the Saturday incident, according to reports.
“This is what Claude Monet probably would have painted in 2100 if no radical action was taken to curb climate change by then,” the group further stated in an Instagram post.
The incident drew outrage on social media, even those who share the climate concerns.
“Yes, but that’s tarnishing a painting that represents a huge amount of work, and Claude Monet has done a lot for our landscapes,” one commented on the group’s post. “Poppy Fields” depicts a field in the northwestern French suburb of Argenteuil.
“You could be investing energy into making real change happen instead of destroying a dead man’s work of art,” said one man.
“I’m crying for Poppies,” another commenter despaired. “There are definitely other ways to make his voice heard.”
The rebel group was also behind the hurling of pumpkin soup on the “Mona Lisa” at the Louvre Museum back in January.
“What is more important?” the crazed activists shouted at the time. “Art or the right to have a healthy and sustainable food system?”
The museum did not immediately say whether the artwork was damaged or not.
With Post wires
