The activists carried out their action in front of The Clothed Maja and The Naked Majatwo paintings by the Spanish painter kept in the great Madrid museum.
And now Spain. Two environmental activists from the Spanish movement Futuro Vegetal glued their hands on Saturday to the frame of two paintings by Goya (1746-1828) exhibited at the Prado museum in Madrid, in order to denounce the inaction of the authorities in the face of global warming . Contacted by AFP, the Spanish police said they had arrested and taken into custody the two activists.
Sam and Alba, the two activists from Futuro Vegetal, did not damage the paintings. Instead, they tagged “+1.5°C” on the wall between the two paintings, in reference to the global warming objective set by the international community, then were arrested and taken into custody, according to the police. According to the Spanish news agency Europa Press, the activists were not stopped by metal detectors at the entrance to the museum because they had used plastic containers to hide the black paint intended for their graffiti.
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“Last week, the United Nations recognized the impossibility of staying below the limit set by the Paris agreement, namely an increase of 1.5° in the average temperature compared to pre-industrial levels. This compromises our ability to produce crops, as extreme weather events such as drought will become more frequent”was indignant Futuro Vegetal in a press release published on its social networks, and relayed in particular by the Spanish branch of Extinction Rebellion, close to the environmental movement.
Multiplication of actions in museums
The paintings targeted by the activists’ action are The Clothed Maja and The Naked Majatwo oils on canvas painted by Goya between 1795 and 1803. The Futuro Vegetal movement did not provide an explanation regarding the choice of the works or their relationship to their message against climate inaction and against subsidies granted by the Spanish government to the food industry.
The action carried out by Futuro Vegetal at the Prado was denounced on Saturday afternoon by the Spanish Minister of Culture, Miquel Iceta. “There is no cause that justifies attacking our common heritage”he denounced on Twitter, pointing to this militant coup of“Act of vandalism”. On October 29, in a Twitter poll, the movement asked what should be the next action. Only 16% of the 25 voters had suggested the idea of a museum.
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Until today, Spain remained spared from the proliferation of ecological actions in European museums. The movement has been marked in recent weeks by the throwing of a soup on a painting by Van Gogh exhibited at the National Gallery in London, or by activists who stuck their hands on The girlat the Pearl Vermeer’s masterpiece kept in The Hague.
Just two weeks ago, the Spanish Ministry of Culture announced the upcoming reinforcement of museum security. In Madrid, only the most vulnerable works are exhibited behind glass in the Reina Sofia museum. Prado officials had meanwhile indicated to the Spanish daily 20Minutos “be on alert”. For the time being, only the Musée d’Orsay seems to have thwarted an environmental action of this kind.
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