Climate activist group Just Stop Oil took hammers and smashed a painting at the National Gallery of London on Monday.
The painting, Rokeby Venus by Diego Velazquez, is a masterpiece by one of the most celebrated artists in Spanish art history. It was actually attacked and damaged in 1914 by Mary Richardson, a suffragette who chose to attack a representation of the most beautiful goddess to protest the British government’s imprisonment of feminist activist Emmeline Pankhurst.
Just Stop Oil acknowledged this history in their post, writing, “Our government have revealed plans for MORE oil licences, knowing it will kill millions. In response, two supporters of Just Stop Oil smashed the Rokeby Venus — slashed by Mary Richardson in 1914.”
💥 SUFFRAGETTE PAINTING SMASHED
💀 Our government have revealed plans for MORE oil licences, knowing it will kill millions. In response, two supporters of Just Stop Oil smashed the Rokeby Venus — slashed by Mary Richardson in 1914.
⏱ Deeds, not words: https://t.co/3tlBID7nKA pic.twitter.com/Hk0el26QIt
— Just Stop Oil (@JustStop_Oil) November 6, 2023
Learn the benefits of becoming a Valuetainment Member and subscribe today!
After taking hammers against the painting—which was encased in glass—the protestors delivered speech connecting the extra-judicial methods of the suffragette movement to the climate movement. It is unclear if this painting itself suffered any damages or if the protective glass absorbed it all.
Just Stop Oil has conducted similar protests in the past, such as when they glued themselves to My Heart’s in the Highlands by Horatio McCulloch in June 2022 and threw soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in October 2022.
It was confirmed shortly after the Van Gogh stunt that Just Stop Oil receives funding from Aileen Getty, a billionaire heiress of the Getty family fortune—whose patriarch, J. Paul Getty, made the fortune in the oil industry. Aileen Getty funds the group through her Climate Emergency Fund, which funds several other groups similar to Just Stop Oil.
At the time, Getty wrote an op-ed for The Guardian, confessing her role behind the protest. “While some have ridiculed the activists, as a funder of climate activism, I am proud of the bigger conversation they have started,” she said.
Add comment