The Prosecutor’s Office in Rome has opened an investigation on Monday against the environmental activists who threw vegetable soup on Friday against the painting ‘The Sower’ by Vincent Van Gogh, which is on display in an exhibition dedicated to the Dutch painter at the Palazzo Bonaparte in Rome.
«An investigation file has been opened based on a Police report. The crime (…) is related to the deterioration, disfigurement and misuse of cultural or landscape property,'» prosecutors said, according to information from the Askanews news agency.
The crime can carry penalties of between two and five years in prison, as indicated in the Italian Penal Code, although the activists insist that the painting has not been damaged because it has a protective glass.
The three activists of the Last Generation group have reaffirmed that their intention was not to damage the work but to draw the attention of public opinion to denounce the advance of climate change and global warming. In addition, they argue that it is not pure vandalism.
After throwing the soup, the activists stuck to the wall and shouted slogans against the use of fossil fuels. Over the last few weeks there have been several similar episodes of activists from groups such as Just Stop Oil who have sprayed paint, poured ketchup and even tried to stick their heads to paintings such as ‘The Sunflowers’, also by Van Gogh, or ‘The Girl with the Pearl Earring’, by Johannes Vermeer, among others.
