Paris museum says painting was target of attempted attack

Pallade Veneta - Paris museum says painting was target of attempted attack

CULTURE 30.10.2022

Paris museum says painting was target of attempted attack / Photo: Ludovic MARIN - AFP/File

A young woman tried to throw soup at a painting at the world-famous Musee d'Orsay in Paris this week, the museum confirmed Sunday, in a similar attack to others by climate activists in Europe.

Change text size:

The museum refused to say which painting was targeted but it is home to artwork by some of the most famous European artists including Paul Cezanne, Paul Gaugin, Vincent van Gogh, Edouard Manet and Claude Monet.

The museum told AFP it had filed a legal complaint for the "attempt to damage a piece of work" after the female activist was intercepted on Thursday, confirming a report in Le Parisien daily.

The Paris prosecutor's office said police had opened an investigation after the complaint.

According to Le Parisien newspaper, the woman had initially tried to approach the 1889 Van Gogh self-portrait at Saint-Remy before attempting to throw soup at a painting by Gaugin.

The daily reported she was wearing a "Just Stop Oil" T-shirt, as others have worn during similar stunts in recent weeks.

On Thursday climate activists glued themselves to Johannes Vermeer's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, Netherlands.

Environmental activists splashed tomato soup on Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" at the National Gallery in London earlier this month, while others threw mashed potato over a Monet painting at the Barberini Museum in Germany.

As the attacks multiply, French Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak has urged national museums to "redouble their vigilance".

S.Urciuoli--PV

Jersey Boys Anniversary Tour Opens in Birmingham With Gritty Account of Crime and Fame

The 20th-anniversary tour of Jersey Boys has opened at Birmingham’s Alexandra Theatre, offering a gritty and unvarnished look at the Four Seasons’ journey. The production details the band's turbulent rise from New Jersey petty criminals to international rock stars, highlighting the complex personal costs behind their musical success.

UBC professor describes police call after Galloway remark as act of care

VANCOUVER — A University of British Columbia professor has testified about a colleague’s decision to call police to visit Steven Galloway after he was accused of sexual assault, describing it as an “act of care” toward the author, who had spoken of killing himself. Galloway, who is suing his accuser and others in a defamation trial centred on the unproven allegations, has described his subsequent committal to a hospital in the United States as “terrifying.

Pallade Veneta - Paris museum says painting was target of attempted attack