Van Gogh

The orchard blossom scene, from the collection of Microsoft founder Paul Allen, is being sold by Christie's.

It depicts a line of mourners outside the tower of the old church and the cemetery. Curated by Maria Teresa Benedetti and Francesca Villanti, the show includes 26 paintings and 14 works on paper from the museum in Otterlo, in the east of the Netherlands. While painting on this spot, Van Gogh was for part of the time accompanied by a Danish artist friend, Christian Mourier-Petersen, who was also working in Arles. Now known as the Museum of Pop Culture, this might seem an unusual place for a Van Gogh masterpiece, but the venue had been established by Allen. The orchard scene was purchased by Allen in 1998. On 3 April 1888 he wrote to his brother Theo: “I’m in a fury of work as the trees are in blossom and I wanted to do a Provence orchard of tremendous gaiety.” Embarking on his new life in the south of France, he was full of enthusiasm for what lay ahead. Van Gogh set up his easel a metre or two away for the vertical Pink Peach Trees, slightly changing the angle from which the trunks were painted. A typical example that was in Van Gogh’s print collection was Woman Picking Cherry Blossoms (around 1846) by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, one of his favourite artists. Although quickly dropping this idea, he continued to think of the two horizontal canvases as pendants, or a pair. [the estate of Paul Allen,](/2022/08/26/microsoft-mogul-paul-allens-art-collection-heads-to-christies-and-could-be-first-to-hit-dollar1bn) the co-founder of Microsoft along with [Bill Gates](/keywords/bill-gates). The most expensive work by the artist ever sold at auction was Portrait of Dr Paul Gachet (June 1890), which went for $83m, but that was back in 1990—and prices have risen considerably since then.

Two activists from campaign group Just Stop Oil have been arrested after throwing tomato soup on Vincent Van Gogh's famous “Sunflowers” painting.

Just Stop Oil have been protesting in the U.K.'s capital for the past two weeks. The issuance of such licenses had previously been put on hold in 2020 as the government said it was establishing a "climate compatibility check." government put an end to all new oil and gas projects in the country. The cost of living crisis is part of the cost of oil crisis, fuel is unaffordable to millions of cold, hungry families. Is it worth more than food? Worth more than justice?

The protestors threw two tins of Heinz Tomato soup over the 1888 work in the National Gallery in London.

They also threw a red substance – what appears to be tomato soup – over the painting. “Are you more concerned about the protection of a painting, or the protection of our planet and people? Both have been arrested for criminal damage and aggravated trespass. Worth more than justice? Is it worth more than food? More than 5,000 readers have already pitched in to keep free access to The Journal.

Two climate change protesters from Just Stop Oil have thrown tinned soup at Vincent Van Gogh's famous 1888 work Sunflowers at the National Gallery in ...

"Officers were rapidly on scene at the National Gallery this morning after two Just Stop Oil protesters threw a substance over a painting and then glued themselves to a wall," police said on Twitter. Officers are now de-bonding them." A video posted by the Just Stop Oil group, which has been holding protests for the last two weeks in the British capital, showed two women throwing two tins of Heinz tomato soup over the painting, one of five versions on display in museums and galleries around the world.

Two activists attacked the famous painting at the National Gallery, in London.

[works including Rubens’s “Massacre of the Innocents,”](https://www.dw.com/en/climate-activists-damage-frame-of-a-rubens-painting-in-munich/a-62927968) which hangs in the Alte Pinakothek, in Munich. Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” had nothing to do with climate change, she said. And Just Stop Oil planned further actions, she added. It is one of six surviving images of sunflowers that van Gogh made in 1888 and 1889. Within minutes, the stunt grabbed attention worldwide, and many social media users expressed concern for the painting’s condition. [Just Stop Oil](https://juststopoil.org/), a group that seeks to stop oil and gas extraction in Britain, entered room 43 of the National Gallery in London, opened two tins of Heinz cream of tomato soup, and threw them at Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers,” one of the treasures of the museum’s collection.

LONDON — Climate protesters threw soup over Vincent van Gogh's "Sunflowers" in London's National Gallery on Friday to protest fossil fuel extraction, ...

Several also glued themselves to the road, blocking traffic. The two protesters also glued themselves to the gallery wall. The soup splashed across the glass covering the painting and its gilded frame.

Just after 11 a.m. on Friday morning, two young climate protesters entered a room in the National Gallery in London containing one of Vincent van Gogh's ...

It can feel overwhelming facing the impacts of climate change, but there are [ways to cope with climate anxiety](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/climate-change-anxiety-dread-cope/2021/07/14/471eb264-e4d4-11eb-b722-89ea0dde7771_story.html?itid=lb_more-on-climate-change_6). As temperatures rise, heat waves are more often sweeping the globe — and parts of the world are [becoming too hot to survive](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2021/climate-change-humidity/?itid=lb_more-on-climate-change_4&itid=lb_more-on-climate-change_3). As seas rise, others are exploring [how to harness marine energy](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/interactive/2021/cop26-scotland-wave-energy-renewables/?itid=lb_more-on-climate-change_14&itid=lb_more-on-climate-change_8). area to push President Biden to declare a “climate emergency.” Another group, known as the Tyre Extinguishers, has been letting the air out of SUV tires across the [United Kingdom](https://www.vice.com/en/article/5dg7qn/who-are-the-tyre-extinguishers) and in [New York](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/27/tire-deflators-suv-new-york-climate-crisis), arguing that the vehicles use more gas and are harmful to pedestrians and cyclists. At least to the activists involved, the fact that the protest had gone viral was probably viewed as a success. [glued themselves](https://twitter.com/UltimaGenerazi1/status/1550481833690890241?s=20&t=UFTmNPnb5LJ5ItK09fxuwQ) to a painting by Sandro Botticelli at the Uffizi museum in Florence. [climbed on the roof](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/17/extinction-rebellion-activists-london-underground) of a commuter train in London, preventing people from getting to work and causing a scuffle between commuters and protesters. Now that attention for that has cooled down, they have moved on to at least the appearance of defacing artworks, in an attempt to attract more eyes. “There is some minor damage to the frame, but the painting is unharmed,” the National Gallery said in a statement. The media gets accustomed to particular types of activism; a march or a sit-in that once commanded attention soon gets written off as old news. But the climate art stunt was still a strange form of protest, one that seemed more likely to alienate people. In July, protesters glued themselves to John Constable’s “The Hay Wain,” also in London’s National Gallery, after pasting their own “apocalyptic” vision of the future over the painting’s surface.

Two Just Stop Oil protestors threw a can of tomato soup on Van Gogh's “Sunflowers” painting in London's National Gallery. Here's why.

The artwork is glazed, and apart from minor damage to the frame, the painting is allegedly unharmed. “What is worth more, art or life?” said one of the soup activists while stuck to the wall. [Just Stop Oil](https://juststopoil.org/), an organization that seeks to halt oil and gas extraction in Britain, launched glugs of Heinz tomato soup at Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” painting.

Environmental protesters threw tomato soup over Vincent van Gogh's 'Sunflowers' painting at London's National Gallery today, in the latest 'direct-action' ...

while soup drips from the frame onto the floor. The room was cleared of visitors and police were called, it added. The National Gallery said the two protesters "appeared to glue themselves to the wall adjacent to Van Gogh's 'Sunflowers'" and threw a "red substance" at the painting. "Are you more concerned about the protection of a painting or the protection of our planet and people?" London's Metropolitan Police said its officers arrested two protesters from the group for criminal damage and aggravated trespass after they "threw a substance over a painting" at the gallery on Trafalgar Square and glued themselves to a wall just after 11am. The gallery said the protesters caused "minor damage to the frame but the painting is unharmed".

Footage posted by the Just Stop Oil campaign group showed activists opening two Heinz tins and then hurling the contents over the 1888 work, before kneeling ...

Footage posted by the Just Stop Oil campaign group showed activists opening two Heinz tins and then throwing the contents over the 1888 work on Friday morning, before kneeling down in front of the masterpiece and gluing their hands to the wall beneath it. Sunflowers is the second, more famous, Van Gogh painting to be targeted by the group, with two climate activists gluing themselves to his 1889 Peach Trees in Blossom, exhibited at the Courtauld Gallery, at the end of June. Footage posted by the Just Stop Oil campaign group showed activists opening two Heinz tins and then hurling the contents over the 1888 work, before kneeling down in front of the masterpiece and gluing their hands to the wall beneath it.

The Metropolitan Police said 28 arrests were made in total in relation to protests in central London on Friday.

Also due to appear at the same court is Lora Johnson, 38, of Keens Lane, Reydon, Southwold in Suffolk. Two tins of Heinz tomato soup were thrown over the Sunflowers painting by van Gogh at the National Gallery. Two women are due to appear in court in the UK charged with criminal damage to the frame of a famous Vincent Van Gogh painting at a London art gallery.