The targeted paintings, “The Naked Maja” and “The Clothed Maja”, which are among the most famous works of the Spanish painter (1746-1828), were not damaged, according to the museum, which specified in a press release closed the room where the two paintings were.
Contacted by AFP, the Spanish police said they had arrested and taken into custody the two activists.
These activists, members of the “Futuro Vegetal” collective, affiliated with the Extinction rebellion collective, have on the other hand tagged “1.5°C” on the wall of the museum between the two paintings, in reference to the warming objective that has been set the international community.
In videos posted online by Extinction rebellion, we see the two young women, dressed in black t-shirts, get glue out of their clothes and then stick their palms on the frame of the paintings, before addressing the visitors.
Some of them then take them to task, shouting “out!”, before security agents from the famous Madrid museum intervene, asking those present to stop filming the scene.
In a press release, Extinction rebellion claimed action of “protest” in the face of “the rise in global temperature, which will cause an unstable climate with serious consequences on the whole planet”.
Current policies “lead us to an increase of 2.5ºC, which means an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events”, denounced this ecological collective follower of civil disobedience.
– “vandalism” –
The action of the two militants was denounced by the Spanish government. This “act of vandalism” produces “widespread rejection”: “there is no cause that justifies attacking everyone’s heritage,” Culture Minister Miquel Iceta said on Twitter.
In its statement, the Prado Museum also condemned the action of the two young women.
Several other actions of this type have been carried out in recent weeks by climate activists, who have targeted emblematic buildings but also famous works of art in several cities in Europe.
At the beginning of the month, two militants of “Last Generation” had thus spread mashed potatoes on the glass protecting Claude Monet’s painting “Les Meules”, at the Barberini museum in Potsdam, Germany.
Activists also stuck to the glass protecting Johannes Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ at a museum in the Netherlands. Others threw soup on the one protecting Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” at the National Gallery in London.
These actions come as 120 heads of state and government are expected from Sunday in the seaside resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, where the COP27 on the climate is to be held for two weeks.
