What is ‘Just Stop Oil,’ and why did protestors throw soup on Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ painting?

They had a game plan that they meticulously followed. Two activists from the Just Stop Oil protest group walked up to Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” painting in the National Gallery in London and threw tomato soup on it. Then, they glued themselves to the wall as they told onlookers why they had just targeted the Van Gogh.

As simple as the shirts they wore, they want the United Kingdom to stop allowing companies to produce more oil. They want licensing to stop and fracking to stop, and they aren’t talking about halting a few things, but everything. The group wants an end to all oil projects, period, and warn of the dangers of climate change.

A cry of despair could be heard from one onlooker as another called for security with a very shaky voice, but most of the room was rendered quiet at the sheer shock of the moment. “Sunflowers” is estimated to be worth nearly $81 million, and everyone was in shock, just standing there with their jaws dropped to the floor, thinking it surely had been ruined.

Why did they desecrate such a treasure?

Protests in the U.K. can get out of hand, but these guys were smooth from the very beginning of their plan. They must have cased the museum to know where security would be and how long it would take them to respond. With the protestors’ hands glued to the wall, one of them started informing the onlookers with her prepared speech.

“What is worth more: art or life? 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 cost-of-living crisis is part of the cost of oil crisis. Fuel is unaffordable to millions of cold, hungry families. They can’t even afford to heat a tin of soup.”

This is the first time

The imagery of the can of soup wraps the incident up in a powerful message—one that has already been told several times in a similar fashion. In July, the same activist group targeted Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” currently held at the Royal Academy of Art in London. Several protestors glued themselves to the painting because they likened the government to Judas, the one who betrayed Jesus just after the meal he shared with his apostles as depicted in the artwork.

In another protest, two activists glued themselves to the frame of John Constable’s masterpiece, “The Hay Wain.” What is it with this group and their attacks on paintings? As far as “Sunflowers” is concerned, it was unharmed. It had a glass covering that protected it and only the frame needs cleaned up a little. Visitors were escorted out, and the two activists were arrested. Their names are yet unknown, most likely for their own protection.