By Francesca Aton
Associate Digital Editor, ARTnews and Art in America
A climate activist affixed an adhesive poster to a Monet painting at the Musée d’Orsay Saturday. The woman, who said she intended to raise awareness for climate change, was arrested.
The stunt was carried out by a member of Riposte Alimentaire (Food Response), a group of environmental activists and defenders of sustainable food production in response to the climate crisis. The group has been targeting museums across Europe for years, including most recently a protest at the Louvre last month.
Climate change activist VANDALIZES priceless Claude Monet painting in Paris.
The activist stuck a piece of painted cloth over ‘The Poppy Field’ painting at the Orsay Museum in Paris demanding climate change action. pic.twitter.com/DXFVhRkdJf
A video on X showed the activist sticking an adhesive barren red landscape on top of Claude Monet’s 1873 painting Coquelicots, saying, according to the Guardian, “this nightmarish image awaits us if no alternative is put in place”.
The French Impressionist’s work depicts people with umbrellas roaming through a blooming poppy field. Unlike works like Leonardo’s Mona Lisa, which has been the subject of much backlash, it was not protected by glass.
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