Climate activists glued themselves to Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” at a Dutch museum on Thursday in the latest stunt targeting famous artworks, but the painting was undamaged.
Three people were arrested after the attack at The Hague’s Mauritshuis museum on the 1665 masterpiece which has inspired a bestselling novel and a Hollywood film, police said.
Social media images showed a man wearing a “Just Stop Oil” t-shirt glueing his head to the painting, while another glued his hand to the wall and a third emptied out a tin of what appeared to be tomato soup.
The stunt comes after activists threw soup at Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” at the National Gallery in London on October 14 and smeared mashed potato over a Claude Monet painting in Germany. “Art is defenceless and and we strongly condemn trying to damage it for whichever cause,” the Mauritshuis said in a statement to AFP.
The museum said the incident happened at around two pm (1400 GMT) and that police were called. “One person glued his head to the painting, which was behind glass, and the other person glued his hand to the green wall next to the painting.
A third person threw an unknown substance at the painting,” it said. The Mauritshuis added: “We have immediately inspected the painting, which was done by our restorers. Fortunately the painting… was not damaged.”
The painting would return on display “as soon as possible”. The Hague police said on Twitter that they had arrested three people in a museum for “public violence against goods”.