Two activists threw soup at Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa on Sunday, January 28, 2024. At the Louvre Museum in Paris, the activists went under a barrier protecting the painting, which is also protected by glass and was not damaged, to stand in front of it. They wore T-shirts that read "Riposte Alimentaire" — the name of the activist group that claimed responsibility. Translated, the name means "food response" as per NBC or "Food Counterattack," according to the BBC. Standing in front of the painting, the protesters said, "What is more important? Art or the right to healthy and sustainable food? Your agricultural system is sick. Our farmers are dying at work," the BBC reported.
Museum employees put black panels in front of the painting and had guests evacuate. The room that houses the painting was closed for 90 minutes to clean the soup off the glass, NBC reported.
The two protesters were arrested, as per CBS. Riposte Alimentaire posted about the protest on X, formerly Twitter, and explained the reasoning behind it. "Through their non-violent action, Sasha (24 years old) and Marie-Juliette (63 years old) demand the establishment of Sustainable Food Social Security," the group posted on the platform.
Writing more about the "fundamental right to food," the group explained that "in France, one in three people skip meals due to lack of means" even though a lot of food is wasted.
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The group also wrote about poor conditions for farmers, climate change and the environmental consequences of the current food system, and food insecurity. It advocates for "the integration of food into the general social security system,” as per the group's thread on X.
