Climate activists glued their hands to the frames of two world-famous works by Spanish painter Francisco de Goya at Madrid’s Prado museum, the latest in a series of protests targeting artworks in Europe.
The video shows a man and woman gluing their hand on Goya’s “The Clothed Maja” and “The Nude Maja” and writing “+1.5°C” on the wall between the two paintings in black marker. The organization Futuro Vegetal announced that two of its members were the ones who went ahead with this action.
“Last week the United Nations acknowledged that it is impossible to stay below the 1.5 degree Celsius limit (agreed at the Paris Climate Conference in 2016). We need change now,” the organization tweeted.
Climate activist groups have held a series of similar protests in recent weeks on the occasion of next week’s COP27 climate conference in Egypt.
Protesters tried to glue themselves to the glass display case of Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” at The Hague, and others threw soup at Van Gogh’s “The Reaper” on display in Rome and his “Sunflowers” in London.
“We condemn the use of the museum as a place for any kind of political protest,” the Prado museum said in a statement, making it clear that the paintings were not destroyed but that museum officials had to repair the wall between the two works.
Police said two people were arrested.
