Three Just Stop Oil supporters have thrown soup over two of Vincent van Gogh’s paintings just hours after fellow activists were jailed for doing the same thing to his famous Sunflowers masterpiece.
Pictures show three Just Stop Oil activists stood in front of the Sunflower painting in the ‘Poets and Lovers’ exhibition at the National Gallery after it covering in soup once again.
Phoebe Plummer 23, and Anna Holland, 22, were jailed earlier today for the same stunt that they performed in October 2022, as they came close to ‘destroying’ the masterpiece.
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Just Stop Oil said: ‘BREAKING: 2 VAN GOGH PAINTINGS SOUPED HOURS AFTER PHOEBE AND ANNA SENTENCED.
‘3 Just Stop Oil supporters have thrown soup over 2 of Van Gogh(‘s) paintings in the ‘Poets and Lovers’ exhibition at the National Gallery’.
Three Just Stop Oil supporters have thrown soup over two of Van Gogh’s paintings in the ‘Poets and Lovers’ exhibition at the National Gallery after fellow activists were jailed for doing the same thing in 2022
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Just Stop Oil said: ‘BREAKING: 2 VAN GOGH PAINTINGS SOUPED HOURS AFTER PHOEBE AND ANNA SENTENCED’Â
The post featured a video of the activists vandalising the artwork that is hung in the National Gallery
The National Gallery confirmed the three activists had been arrested and the paintings remain unharmed
In October 2022, Phoebe Plummer, 23, (left) and fellow activist Anna Holland, 22, (right) flung two tins of Heinz soup at Sunflowers at London ‘s National Gallery
The post featured a video of the activists vandalising the artwork before telling an angry crowd: ‘There are people in prison for demanding an end to new oil and gas, something which is now government policy after sustained, disruptive actions, countless headlines and the resulting political pressure.
‘Future generations will regard these prisoners of conscience to be on the right side of history.’
The National Gallery confirmed the three activists had been arrested and the paintings remain unharmed.
A statement said: ‘At just after 2.30pm this afternoon, three people entered Room 6 of the National Gallery Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers exhibition.
‘They appeared to throw a soup like substance over two works – Sunflowers (1888, National Gallery, London) and Sunflowers (1889, Philadelphia Museum of Art).
‘Police were called and three people have been arrested.
‘The paintings were removed from display and examined by a conservator and are unharmed.
‘We are aiming to reopen the exhibition as soon as possible.’
Soup was also thrown on the facade of the British Embassy this afternoon in Berlin, Germany, and it believed this was also in solidarity with Plummer and Holland, who were jailed for two years and 20 months respectively.
A worker cleans the facade of the British Embassy in Berlin, Germany, after soup was thrown over it
It believed this was also in solidarity with Plummer and Holland, who were jailed for two years and 20 months respectively
Plummer and Holland caused as much as £10,000 worth of damage to the artwork’s gold-coloured frame when they targeted it at London‘s National Gallery just under two years ago.
Staff at the gallery inspected the painting, worth up to £72.5m, and frame for damage while the women were still attached to the wall, and were worried the soup may have dripped through the protective glass.
The pair had been to the museum in Trafalgar Square a day before the incident and bought the tins of soup from a Tesco supermarket in central London.
They denied but were convicted of damaging property by a jury after a four day trial at Southwark Crown Court.
Plummer said she had ‘made peace’ with her decision and smiled as she was handed her sentence.
Sentencing the women, Judge Christopher Hehir said the ‘cultural treasure’ could have been ‘seriously damaged or even destroyed’.
Judge Hehir, who previously jailed the co-founder of Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion for five years, continued: ‘Soup might have seeped through the glass.
‘You couldn’t have cared less if the painting was damaged or not.
‘You had no right to do what you did to Sunflowers.’
Just Stop Oil supporters gathered outside the court, some of whom held posters of historical figures jailed for activism
Plummer (left) received a two-year jail term, while Holland (right) was handed 20 monthsÂ
The judge told Plummer, who was also handed a criminal behaviour order: ‘You clearly think your beliefs give you the right to commit crimes when you feel like it. You do not.’
Visitors at the gallery were heard gasping ‘Oh my gosh’ as the painting was attacked during the protest which was filmed and quickly uploaded onto JSO’s Twitter page.
Raj Chada, defending Holland, said the women ‘did check’ that the painting was protected by a glass cover before throwing the soup.
Plummer, representing herself, told the hearing: ‘My choice today is to accept whatever sentence I receive with a smile.
‘It is not just myself being sentenced today, or my co-defendants, but the foundations of democracy itself.’
Both Plummer and Holland refused to say who they took instructions from before they carried out the publicity stunt.Â
Plummer was also handed a three-month sentence for her part in a slow march which caused long tailbacks in west London in November 2023.
Holland and Plummer were found guilty of criminal damage by a jury after three hours of deliberation in July, after which Judge Hehir said they ‘came within the width of a pane of glass of destroying one of the most valuable artworks in the world’.Â
The painting is considered to be a masterpiece and is one of the most recognisable artworks in the world
Supporters of the two Just Stop Oil environmental protesters, Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland gather with placards outside Southwark Crown Court
Francesca Kolar, prosecuting, said: ‘Whilst this risked serious damage to a priceless painting by one of the greatest artists – Vincent Van Gogh – there was, we say, actual damage to the seventeenth century Italian frame chosen specifically to house this painting by The National Gallery in 1999.’Â Â
Prosecutor Ben Lloyd said that the antique frame, originally worth £28,000, had suffered around £10,000 worth of damage.
Frame conservator Isabella Kocum said in a statement read to jurors: ‘I was shocked and dismayed by the extent of corrosion this tomato soup had caused to the exquisite antique frame.
‘The frame was specifically chosen for Van Gogh’s painting because of the matching coloration.
‘I remain amazed at how corrosive the soup was to the frame.’
‘Even once the majority of the soup had been removed, I was alarmed to see that the remainder was acting like a paint stripper in front of my eyes.’
In 2022, Plummer said in front of the painting: ‘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.’
In the intervening years, Plummer has taken part in numerous other demonstrations, committing flagrant offences and being constantly re-bailed so she can re-offend
Plummer, who once likened herself to Martin Luther King, has lived a life of serene luxury
Plummer attended the £50,000 a year St Mary’s Ascott boarding school in BerkshireÂ
She grew up in her parents £2.85million Chelsea townhouse but is now thought to reside at a property in LambethÂ
In July, just five days after her guilty verdict, Plummer was arrested for spraying paint on departure boards at Heathrow Airport.
A number of Just Stop Oil supporters gathered outside the court, some of whom held posters of historical figures jailed for activism.
Plummer, who once likened herself to Martin Luther King, has lived a life of serene luxury being privately educated at St Mary’s Ascot boarding school in Berkshire before studying social anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies.Â
She grew up in her parents £2.85million Chelsea townhouse but according to court hearings now resides at a house in Lambeth.Â
It is not known if the professional protester has managed to find gainful employment to support herself in her new digs, but according to an interview in the Times it seems unlikely.Â
She boasted: ‘I don’t have to work three jobs to feed my kids or pay heating bills which means I can dedicate time towards fighting.’Â
