“Which is more valuable, art or life?”. This sentence, shouted by two activists after having emptied the contents of cans of tomato soup on the “Sunflowers”, the masterpiece of Van Gogh a year and a half ago, still resonates on January 28, 2024.

Seeking to draw attention to the climate emergency, Sacha, 24, and Marie-Juliette, 63, threw soup on the glass protecting the world's most famous painting, {21 }The Mona Lisa. In front of Da Vinci's masterpiece, the activists then spoke: "What is important? What is more important? Art or the right to healthy and sustainable food? Our agricultural system is sick. Our farmers are dying at work. One in three French people do not eat all their meals every day" .

The two women were then arrested. The “food response” group claimed responsibility for the action in a press release sent to AFP, presenting itself as “a French civil resistance campaign which aims to bring about a radical change in society on the climate and social plan". The collective replaces Last renovation, a movement demanding "a thermal renovation plan for buildings that meets the emergency " ecological, which used the same spectacular and non-violent means to make people talk about them.

Highly symbolic, the portrait with its enigmatic smile is not its first scare: after its theft in 1911 (and its disappearance for almost two years!), the painting had already been { 66}“encrusted” at the end of May 2022 by an environmental activist. The event is in fact in line with the numerous symbolic attacks on masterpieces by environmental activists, notably from the group {77 }Just Stop Oil.

Rest assured: to date, no work has suffered any real damage, since all the targeted paintings are protected by glass.

Even if the painting was not damaged, this action going against one of the seven wonders of the world sparked lively debates. The new Minister of Culture Rachida Dati took a position on be targeted! I send all my support to the staff of the Louvre Museum". And you, what do you think?