Protesters fling soup at the Mona Lisa in demand for healthy and sustainable food

Wearing T-shirts that read "food counterattack," two women wreaked havoc at the Louvre in Paris

By Kelly McClure

Nights & Weekends Editor

Published January 28, 2024 10:24AM (EST)

This image grab taken from AFPTV footage shows two environmental activists from the collective dubbed "Riposte Alimentaire" (Food Retaliation) gesturing as they stand in front of Leonardo Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" (La Joconde) painting after hurling soup at the artwork, at the Louvre museum in Paris, on January 28, 2024.  (DAVID CANTINIAUX/AFPTV/AFP via Getty Images)
This image grab taken from AFPTV footage shows two environmental activists from the collective dubbed "Riposte Alimentaire" (Food Retaliation) gesturing as they stand in front of Leonardo Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" (La Joconde) painting after hurling soup at the artwork, at the Louvre museum in Paris, on January 28, 2024. (DAVID CANTINIAUX/AFPTV/AFP via Getty Images)

Leonardo da Vinci's most famous painting, the Mona Lisa, is in need of a good wiping down after protesters splattered its protective casing and an expanse of the wall behind it with soup on Sunday, causing chaos at the Louvre in Paris.

According to BBC, two women belonging to the group Riposte Alimentaire (Food Counterattack) claimed responsibility for the vandalism on the 500-year-old oil painting — which saw no lasting damage from their efforts — calling for the right to "healthy and sustainable food."

Cameras in the Salle des Etats, where the painting is displayed, caught footage of the event, which can be seen below, and the women can be heard yelling "What is more important? Art or the right to healthy and sustainable food? Your agricultural system is sick. Our farmers are dying at work."

Reacting to the situation quickly, museum security positioned black screens around the women to defuse the situation, and then called for a brief evacuation. Per the BBC's reporting, this is not the first attack on the Mona Lisa. It has been behind safety glass since the early 1950s, after damage caused by a visitor pouring acid on it. 


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