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Eco-protesters glue themselves to Van Gogh painting at London art gallery

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Vincent
Published date30 June 2022
The pair are affiliated with Just Stop Oil -a coalition of groups working together who want to ensure the Government commits to halting new fossil fuel licensing and production. They glued themselves to Peach Trees in Blossom 1889, a view of an open plain outside Arles, France in early spring. The painting is based in the region of France where Van Gogh was born

Protester Louis McKechnie, 21, from Weymouth in Dorset said: "As a kid I used to love this painting, my dad took me to see it when we visited London. I still love this painting, but I love my friends and family more, I love nature more. I value the future survival of my generation more highly than my public reputation.

READ MORE: 'I'm a lawyer and I'm striking because I only earn £17K a year as a criminal barrister in Central London'

He continued: “The scientists are saying we need to end fossil fuel licensing and the Government is pouring sand in their ears. I’m not willing to be marched to my death by the fossil fuel companies and their government puppets."

“It is immoral for cultural institutions to stand by and watch whilst our society descends into collapse. Galleries should close. Directors of art institutions should be calling on the government to stop all new oil and gas projects immediately. We are either in resistance or we are complicit.” MyLondon has contacted the Courtauld Gallery for comment.

Fellow protester Emily Brocklebank, 24, a psychology student from Leeds, added: “I’m taking action today because I can’t live in a bubble of normality when society is collapsing around us and people in the global south are suffering so much.

"Billionaires are getting richer whilst nurses queue at food banks, tens of millions of people across the world are starving and half the world’s population is exposed to extreme danger from heatwaves, floods, fires and famine. Meanwhile the art establishment, the politicians and the fossil fuel companies look the other way.

“I love art, everywhere I go I visit all the galleries. Art is so important, it captures history and a moment in time, but artists and the art establishment are failing us by...

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