Justice in the United Kingdom has found guilty of causing criminal damage to the pair of environmental activists from the group Just Stop Oil who glued their hands to a painting by Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh in a London art gallery.
The two defendants — a 24-year-old woman and a 22-year-old man — caused £2,000 (about 2,300 euros) worth of damage to the gallery during their ‘performance’ against the work ‘Peach Blossom’. However, the painting, older than the painting itself, has suffered irreparable damage.
Judge Neeta Minhas has asserted that the frame cannot be returned to its original state after the activists’ attack, while the painting itself is also damaged, albeit «substantially», which does not, however, make it a «minor, insignificant, temporary or trivial» issue.
For her part, Francesca Cociani, the activists’ defense lawyer, questioned whether now, thanks to the attack carried out by her defendants, Van Gogh’s work could have increased in value.
For her part, the gallery’s restorer, Karen Serres, responded with a resounding «no» to Cociani’s question.
Several environmental groups have carried out repeated attacks in recent weeks against recognized works of art by painters such as the Spanish Francisco de Goya, the Austrian Gustav Klimt or Van Gogh himself.
Their main objective is to raise awareness of climate change and the need for international governments to adopt measures to curb it.
