Why are Just Stop Oil attacking paintings?
The art world was horrified when activists from Just Stop Oil launched tomato soup at Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers in 2022, and although the climate group have also attacked the works of Horatio McCulloch, Giampietrino, and John Constable – something about Sunflowers struck a nerve.
It is one of Van Gogh’s most famous and beloved paintings, hailed by his peer Paul Gaugin as the most “completely Vincent” painting he ever produced. They signify a rare glimmer of hope for the troubled artist, and van Gogh himself wrote that they reflected his “gratitude”. This made it all the more impactful when two Just Stop Oil protesters showed up at Frieze London, threw soup at one of his most poignant works – and glued themselves to the floor.
The protestors originally planned to throw soup at an Andy Warhol piece (“purely for how meta it would have been”) but selected Van Gogh because he was a penniless artist, one who they said “would be forced to choose between eating or heating his home” if he were alive under the current government.
Although the artworks the protestors have targeted so far have all been well protected by glass, their actions were naturally provocative. But that’s part of Just Stop Oil’s core ethos – forcing people to engage in the climate conversation.
Just Stop Oil spokesperson Alex De Koning told Euronews Culture that the group were inspired by the Civil Rights and suffragette movements. “We take inspiration from them and follow the same sort of tactics,” De Konig explained. “For example, the suffragettes slashed paintings and quite violently destroyed them, while we’re just throwing soup at a glass pane but still trying to get the message across in the same way and make people question their own comfort zones.”
On how their tactics of vandalising cherished paintings are received by the public, De Koning said the government was alienating people far worse than Just Stop Oil ever was. “The head of BP says he has more cash than he knows what to do with during a cost of living crisis,” he said. He went on to explain that their actions were justifiable considering “people can’t afford to heat up a tin of soup,” and that the government were looking to accelerate fossil fuel production.
“At the moment, we’re growing a lot and getting a lot of support because people know how urgent the situation is and how desperate it is. We’re picking up from massive resistance movements in the past, and it works,” he concluded. “We know they work. That’s why we’re doing the same.” Although Just Stop Oil’s method’s are seen as obnoxious, time-wasting vandalism by some, it’s virtually undeniable that they have been able to reclaim headlines to further their own climate-conscious message.
