Woman who threw soup over Van Gogh’s painting says she would never try to cause damage

A woman who threw soup over a Van Gogh painting as part of a Just Stop Oil protest has said she'd never try to cause damage to it.

On Friday (14 October) the buttocks of the artistic world were communally clenched after protestors from environmental campaign group Just Stop Oil threw soup over a priceless painting by Vincent Van Gogh.

Van Gogh's iconic 'Sunflowers' painting hangs in the National Gallery in London and getting drenched in a tin of Heinz would probably have spoiled it somewhat.

Fortunately, the painting was protected by a pane of glass that stopped any of the soup seeping through to the precious canvas, and the protestors have explained they never intended to damage the priceless Van Gogh.

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Now, one of the protestors has explained why they chose to target the Van Gogh and made it clear they only threw soup at it because they knew it was protected and wouldn't get damaged.

She said: "Absolutely no damage done to the painting, it was behind glass and we never, ever would have considered doing it if we didn't know it was behind glass so that we wouldn't do any damage.

"I mean literally we were sat up there still glued to the wall, they wiped it off with a bit of kitchen roll.

"I recognise that it looks like a slightly ridiculous action, I agree it is ridiculous, but we're not asking the question 'should everybody be throwing soup on paintings', what we're doing is getting the conversation going so we can ask the questions that matter.

"Questions like 'is it ok that Liz Truss is licensing over 100 new fossil fuel licences?' and 'is it ok that fossil fuels are subsidised 30 times more than renewables when offshore wind is currently nine times cheaper?'"

Just Stop Oil

This isn't the first time activists from Just Stop Oil have gone for Van Gogh paintings, as earlier this year two people glued themselves to his 'Peach Trees in Blossom' painting.

Meanwhile, today (17 October) another two activists climbed up the tall masts of the Queen Elizabeth II bridge at Dartford crossing, resulting in it being closed down.

If you want to reacquaint yourself with the soup-throwing incident that kicked this whole thing off you can check it out here:

Two women have been charged in relation to the soup-throwing protest, with 20-year-old Anna Holland from Newcastle and 21-year-old Phoebe Plummer of Lambeth pleading not guilty to damages of the painting's frame.

Prosecutor Ola Oyedepo said the pair threw an 'orange substance' at the painting knowing there was a 'protective case' over the priceless masterpiece.

She said some damage was caused to the frame, the cost of which is not yet known but 'significantly below the £5,000 cost threshold'.

Speaking for the defence, Katie McFadden, said the prosecution 'needs to prove that damage has been caused'.

A trial date for the pair has been set for 13 December at the City of London Magistrate's Court.