Prison sentences for the two activists who threw soup at Van Gogh

Severe penalties for the two activists who, in October 2022, threw tomato soup at Vincent van Gogh ’s Sunflowers at the National Gallery in London and then glued their hands to the wall on which the Dutch painter’s masterpiece hangs. The two young women, ages 23 and 22, did not cause any problems to the painting with their action, but they did cause £10,000 worth of damage to the frame, a piece of 18th-century Italian craftsmanship purchased by the museum in 1999 and worth £28,000. For this, one of the two activists was sentenced to two years in prison, while her companion received a 20-month sentence: the crime for which they were convicted was that of damage.

In pronouncing the sentence against the two activists, Judge Christopher Hehir said, referring to the Van Gogh painting, that this “cultural treasure” could have been “severely damaged or even destroyed,” adding that the soup could have seeped through the glass, which is why he branded the two activists’ action as “idiotic,” since it could have caused irreversible damage to the work. “You didn’t care whether the painting was damaged or not,” he said. “You had no right to do what you did.” According to the lawyer defending one of the two activists, his client had “checked” that the painting was protected by glass before throwing the soup. The activist who received the two-year sentence did not have a lawyer (she defended herself in court) said, “Today my choice is to accept with a smile whatever sentence I receive. Today not only I or my co-defendants are being sentenced, but the very foundations of democracy.” The young woman had already received three months in prison for taking part in an action that paralyzed traffic in West London in November 2023, and had previously been arrested for splashing paint on the departure boards at Heathrow Airport.

In response to the convictions, just an hour after the sentencing was handed down, three other members of the two activists’ protest group, Just Stop Oil, entered the National Gallery where an exhibition on VanGogh (Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers) is underway and repeated the gesture, still throwing soup at the painting. As a result of this action, three activists were arrested. The two targeted paintings (two versions of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers ) were removed from the exhibition for analysis, and were found to be undamaged.

Prison sentences for the two activists who threw soup at Van Gogh

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