BERLIN (AP) 鈥� Climate protesters threw mashed potatoes at a Claude Monet painting in a German museum to protest fossil fuel extraction on Sunday, but caused no damage to the artwork.
Two activists from the group Last Generation, which has called on the German government to take drastic action to protect the climate and stop using fossil fuels, approached Monet鈥檚 鈥淟es Meules鈥� at Potsdam鈥檚 Barberini Museum and threw a thick substance over the painting and its gold frame.
The group later confirmed via a post on Twitter that the mixture was mashed potatoes. The two activists, both wearing orange high-visibility vests, also glued themselves to the wall below the painting.
鈥淚f it takes a painting 鈥� with #MashedPotatoes or #TomatoSoup thrown at it 鈥� to make society remember that the fossil fuel course is killing us all: Then we鈥檒l give you #MashedPotatoes on a painting!鈥� the group wrote on Twitter, along with a video of the incident.
In total, four people were involved in the incident, according to German news agency dpa.
The Barberini Museum said later Sunday that because the painting was enclosed in glass, the mashed potatoes didn't cause any damage. The painting, part of Monet's 鈥淗aystacks鈥� series, is expected to be back on display on Wednesday.
鈥淲hile I understand the activists鈥� urgent concern in the face of the climate catastrophe, I am shocked by the means with which they are trying to lend weight to their demands,鈥� museum director Ortrud Westheider said in a statement.
Police told dpa they had responded to the incident, but further information about arrests or charges was not immediately available.
The Monet painting is the latest artwork in a museum to be targeted by climate activists to draw attention to global warming.
The British group Just Stop Oil threw tomato soup at in London鈥檚 National Gallery earlier this month.
Just Stop Oil activists also glued themselves to the frame of an early copy of Leonardo da Vinci鈥檚 鈥淭he Last Supper鈥� at London鈥檚 Royal Academy of Arts, and to John Constable鈥檚 鈥淭he Hay Wain鈥� in the National Gallery.
___
Follow AP's coverage of climate issues and the environment at
The Associated Press
