Lyon had until now been spared these heavy-handed actions by environmental activists.
This Saturday afternoon, two Food Response activists entered the Museum of Fine Arts in Lyon where they threw soup on a painting. And not just any work: “Spring”, signed Claude Monet.
Fortunately, the work would not have been damaged because a window would protect it, which is not the case for all the paintings exhibited at the 1st arrondissement museum. An expert is still expected at the start of the week to examine the table.
This type of action, done to alert people to the climate emergency, rarely arouses positive reactions. In the video produced by Riposte Alimentaire, we can also hear a visitor exasperated by the two young women, urging them to keep quiet.
💬 “This spring will be the only one we have left if we don’t react. What will our future artists paint? What will we dream of if there is no more spring?”
chanted Ilona and Sophie, citizens involved with the Food Response campaign. [2] pic.twitter.com/bg4UNnejFF— Riposte Alimentaire (@riposte_alim) February 10, 2024
“Art is the most beautiful tribute to life. We love it. But our future artists will no longer have anything to paint on a burned planet. They will no longer dream, in a world with multiple conflicts. We still have choice. We must wake up and resist”indicates the collective, which thus targets agriculture, “responsible for 21% of national greenhouse gas emissions and contributes greatly to the deterioration of our biodiversity and the impoverishment of soils, due to the massive use of inputs”. Food response calls for the establishment of a vital food card with 150 euros credited each month for the French.
The mayor of Lyon Grégory Doucet reacted in a mixed way on the networks: “I regret the action taken today at the Museum of Fine Arts in Lyon against a painting by Monet. All my support for the teams, forced to close part of the museum. But in the face of the climate emergency, the anxiety is legitimate . We respond with resolute action.”.
I regret the action taken today at the Museum of Fine Arts in Lyon against a painting by Monet.
All my support to the teams, forced to close part of the museum.
But in the face of the climate emergency, anxiety is legitimate. We respond to it with resolute action.
— Grégory Doucet (@Gregorydoucet) February 10, 2024
The LR mayor of the 2nd arrondissement, Pierre Oliver, was less understanding: “Shame on environmentalists who, under the guise of ‘civil disobedience’, attack our cultural heritage. The radicalization of environmental activists day after day is particularly worrying”.